Armed with swords and rifles and around 15,000 soldiers, Hindu Swabhimaan Sangathan’s ‘dharma sena’ is all set to wage war against Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
By India.com News Desk on January 22, 2016 at 8:57 A
Meerut, Jan 22: Armed with swords and rifles and around 15,000 soldiers, Hindu Swabhimaan Sangathan’s ‘dharma sena’ is all set to wage war against Islamic State, also known as ISIS. In Uttar Pradesh, the right-wing outfit formed a group called ‘dharma sena’ and has been giving training to its members to take part in war against ISIS, which it believes will occupy western UP by 2020.
According to the Times of India report, the dharma sena has enlisted children too in the group. Ex-servicemen are giving them training to use swords and firearms. The group is running about 50 camps all over western UP and has its head quarter at a temple at Dasna in Ghaziabad district. There are three known training camps in Meerut city and five in Muzaffarnagar district alone, which is considered a communally sensitive area. (ALSO READ: ISIS jihadists will be ‘very seriously dented’ by end of 2016)
“Our motto is simple — catch them young. We don’t give guns and swords to children straight away. For the first six months, we train them mentally. We teach them verses from the Gita,” says Hindu Swabhiman’s leaders, Chetna Sharma, who is also a member of the VHP’s Durga Vahini.
The dharma sena is inspired by the ideology of Swami Narsinghanand Saraswati, a former Samajwadi Party member who is now a Hindu ascetic. Saraswati believes the Darul Uloom Islamic school in Deoband, which is one of largest Islamic schools in India, was where the Islamic State’s ideologies originated. “The only answer to the ISIS is a HS – a Hindu State,” he said, adding that he was preparing people for a civil war that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot stop.
Saraswati stays in a temple in Dasna where a board proclaims, “Yeh teerth Hinduon ka pavitra sthal hai. Musalmanon ka pravesh varjit hai. Aadesh Mahant Baba Narsinghanand Saraswati.” (This temple is a holy place of Hindus. Entry of Muslims is prohibited. By order of head priest Baba Narsinghanand Saraswati).
What shocking is the police of the areas where such extra-constitutional training camps are being run are clueless about the activities of dharma sena. “We do not have any report on such activity taking place. I will certainly look into the matter,” said Inspector General of Meerut Zone Alok Sharma.
The question arises how can the central or state government can allow any organisation to conduct training of using arms and weapons. Does it also mean that the Hindu Swabhimaan Sangathan doesn’t believe in Indian security forces and government who are responsible for national security? The most worst part is that young minds are being brain-washed against a particular community and taught use of ammunition at the very young age, which certainly is a threat to communal harmony in the country.