New Delhi: Vegetable vendor, self-styled gau rakshak (cow protector) and a fringe Hindutva leader who owes much of his public following to the targeting of alleged “love jihad” and “religious conversions” in his area, Raj Kumar — better known as Bittu Bajrangi — is many things to many people. The resident of Haryana’s Faridabad has been arrested by Nuh police for his alleged involvement in the communal violence which broke out in the district last month.
Dheeraj Shukla, a Faridabad resident, looks upon 45-year-old Bajrangi, the founder and head of the Gau Raksha Bajrang Force — a cow vigilante group operating in the area — as a “saviour”, who helped him register a police complaint when his 22-year-old daughter reportedly eloped with a Muslim man from the neighbourhood. The case was the first registered against Haryana’s anti-religious conversion law, passed last year. ThePrint had earlier reported that the couple was married and living in an undisclosed location after turning to the police for protection.
Other neighbours of Bajrangi, told ThePrint that the vegetable vendor at Faridabad’s Ramphal Mandi, who also rented out vending carts to smaller traders, maintained a “low profile” and would touch the feet of any woman he met, irrespective of their age, as a mark of respect.
Most police officers ThePrint spoke to, however, dismissed Bajrangi as “inconsequential”, when it came to his credentials as a Hindutva leader. According to the officers, the self-styled Hindutva leader wanted to be in the public eye, and was trying to gain prominence as “Bajrangi Bhai” among local followers.
Following Bajrangi’s arrest in the Nuh violence, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), one of the organisers of the 31 July religious procession during which the communal clash had started in the district, has distanced itself from the self-styled leader.
In a statement issued on social media Tuesday, the VHP said “Raj Kumar alias Bittu Bajrangi, who is said to be a Bajrang Dal worker, has never had any relation with Bajrang Dal [the youth wing of VHP]. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) also does not consider the content of the video allegedly released by him to be appropriate”.
राज कुमार उर्फ बिट्टू बजरंगी, जिसे बजरंग दल कार्यकर्ता बताया जा रहा है, उसका बजरंग दल से कभी कोई संबंध नहीं रहा। उसके द्वारा कथित रूप से जारी किए गए वीडियो की सामग्री को भी विश्व हिन्दू परिषद उचित नहीं मानती।
— Vishva Hindu Parishad -VHP (@VHPDigital) August 16, 2023
VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal too had earlier said that Bajrangi was never associated with the outfit. “He has never been a part of the Bajrang dal. He might have gone to the yatra [the Nuh event] as a participant. The VHP and the Bajrang Dal have no ties with him,” he said.
He was arrested Tuesday, following the filing of an FIR by a senior woman police officer in the state, alleging that Bajrangi had brandished swords, raised slogans and jumped onto the bonnet of the officer’s vehicle during the 31 July violence. He was sent to 14 days’s judicial custody Thursday. According to police sources eight swords used in the violence were recovered from various locations based on information provided by him while in police custody following his arrest.
On 31 July, a religious procession organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Matra Shakti Durga Vahini was attacked, allegedly by hundreds of youths from the Meo Muslim community, leading to clashes that left six dead, over 70 injured, and caused loss of property worth several crores. The violence spilt to adjoining districts of Haryana, including Gurugram, where a mosque was set ablaze and a naib imam was killed (one among the six casualties of the violence).
The FIR registered by the woman officer was the not first against Bajrangi in the incident. In fact, it is the fifth FIR registered against the self-styled Hindutva leader this year, including three that were filed even before the Nuh case.
Confirming to ThePrint that all police cases against Bajrangi were registered this year, and that there were no previous cases against him, Faridabad Police public relations officer Subhe Singh said the self-styled leader had been arrested in all the cases, except for the first one.
Speaking to ThePrint in January this year, in the wake of the Dheeraj Shukla case, Bajrangi had said, “I have dedicated my life to saving Hindu girls [from love jihad]. I have been doing this work for the past 30 years. I have brought girls back from Bihar, Kolkata, Mumbai, and many other places. I don’t leave jihadis.”
He had gone on to explain how Hindu women were being allegedly trapped [by Muslim men], how soon Hindus will have to take to the streets in protest and alleged that the Mewat region of Haryana [largely populated by the Meo Muslim community] was a “mini Pakistan”.
Also read: Nuh violence puts focus on Meo Muslims of Mewat — who they are & what is their history
Cases against Bittu Bajrangi
A day after communal clashes broke out in Nuh, before spilling onto neighbouring districts, an FIR was registered against Bajrangi in Faridabad on 1 August in relation to an allegedly provocative Facebook video linked to the Nuh event.
He was arrested in the case, and later released on bail, before being re-arrested following the complaint by the woman officer.
According to data accessed by ThePrint, three FIRs had been registered against Bajrangi this year, even before the eruption of the Nuh violence.
In the first case, registered on 3 June in Faridabad’s Dhauj, police sources told ThePrint, complaints were registered against Bajrangi under sections 295A (malicious and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 148 (rioting), 149 (rioting with a deadly weapon) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Arms Act.
On the very next day, another FIR was registered against him for alleged outraging the religious feelings. The FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint, states that the self-styled gau rakshak had in a video on social media referred to Muslims as “jihadis” and asserted that he would continue to target “jihadis”.
The next day, another FIR was registered against him in Saran, Faridabad, under Sections 295A and 34 (common intention) of IPC. This FIR, also accessed by ThePrint, mentions the use of the term “jihadi” by Bajrangi and hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.
Rise as self-styled Hindutva leader
References to Muslims as “jihadis” appear repeatedly in Bajrangi’s social media posts, as seen by ThePrint. His Instagram feed also has details of news reports on the various cases registered against him.
The posts also project him as a “saviour of Sanatani women” and give the impression that he likes to flaunt swords and make social media reels.
On the day violence erupted in Nuh, Bajrangi appeared to say in a Facebook Live that “phool mala tayyar rakho (keep flowers and garlands ready)” and “tumhara jija aa raha hai (your brother-in-law is coming)” — a purported reference to the presence of Monu Manesar, the gau rakshak who is an accused in the murders of two Muslim men, Zunaid and Nasir, at the rally.
In an Instagram reel uploaded on 30 July, a day before the eruption of violence in Nuh, Bajrangi appears to be dressed in saffron attire. An accompanying writing states “Coming to Mewat tomorrow, jihadiyon’s brother-in-law”. A song, “Baap toh baap rahega [father will remain father]”, plays in the background.
Neighbours in Faridabad, remember him as someone who “worships gau mata [cow]”.
“He doesn’t care if the cow gives milk or not. For him, it’s his mother. He has one in his house in Faridabad as well,” said a neighbour, who didn’t wish to be named.
The neighbour added: “He has been leading a bhagwa [saffron] rally on Ashtami [during Navratra] every year for the past eight years. His presence [in the neighbourhood, as a self-styled Hindutva leader] has grown slowly. People come to him with their problems. Every evening he sits in an adda. Some 300-400 youths now follow and work with him to save cows. They keep surveillance to see if cows are being slaughtered and also take care of sick cows.”
The self-styled gau rakshak and Hindutva leader has also found supporters beyond the neighbourhood.
According to Anil Kaushik, of the Youtube channel ‘Live for Nation’, Bajrangi’s arrest in the present case is “unjust”.
“Everyone knows that the case against him is false. He is someone who respects women, he touches their feet, no matter the age. How can someone like that brandish a sword and misbehave with a woman,” Kaushik, who claims to have known Bajrangi since 2016, said.
Ashok Baba, a lawyer and VHP member, told ThePrint he met the self-styled Hindutva leader for the first time in Faridabad district court. “I practise there and Bittu [Bajrangi] would often come for different matters. He had helped out Dheeraj Shukla’s family in their hard times as well [a reference to the anti-conversion case],” Baba said.
Baba had appeared to be purportedly firing from inside a temple premise in social media videos which surfaced after the Nuh violence. He had later told the media that he had fired in self-defence and used his licensed gun for the purpose.
Meanwhile, police officials ThePrint spoke to also recalled Bajrangi’s slow rise to local fame.
“He drops by [from time to time] with various complaints and allegations against some Muslim youth. He isn’t taken very seriously [by the police]. However, over time, some local youths have joined hands with him. His claim to fame has been [from] all of this,” a senior police officer in Haryana said on condition of anonymity.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)