Bajrang Dal draws flak for holding 'airgun training' camp for students

Not a single shot fired, says the organisation's state coordinator

Youngsters with airguns at a school in Kodagu, Karnataka. The Bajrang Dal said no shot was fired.

Youngsters with airguns at a school in Kodagu, Karnataka. The Bajrang Dal said no shot was fired.: The Telegraph

K.M. Rakesh   |   TT  |  Bangalore   |    17.05.22  : The Bajrang Dal has drawn flak for allegedly imparting airgun training and distributing heads of tridents among youths at a camp held in a school in Kodagu district.

The development comes at a time minorities feel besieged in BJP-ruled Karnataka, which has witnessed a ban on the hijab at state-run educational institutions, an anti-conversion ordinance, and a Sangh parivar campaign against halal food and the use of loudspeakers at mosques.

While social media pictures show young men lying on the ground holding airguns in a shooting position, the Bajrang Dal has denied imparting actual shooting training. It has claimed the steel tridents carried blunt ends and were “symbolic”. No permission is needed to buy or use airguns, police said.

The “shaurya prashikshana varga” (valour training camp) and “trishul deekshe” (trident initiation) were held from May 5 to 11 at the Sai Shankar High School in Ponnampet, some 230km from here.

“There was no arms training — not a single shot was fired from the airguns,” Bajrang Dal state coordinator Raghu Sakleshpura told The Telegraph.

“The trishuls we distributed were not weapons; they were symbolic trishuls for our workers to keep in their puja rooms. We have been organising these camps for 16 years in Karnataka without any controversy.”

Asked what the youths were doing with the airguns, Raghu said: “They were told what an airgun is, how it works and what its different parts are.”

He said 116 young men participated in the camp.

Krishnamurthy, a local leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad — the parent organisation of the Bajrang Dal — told reporters the outfit had “provided the police with all details of the event and what kind of training we gave”.

Kodagu superintendent of police M.A. Aiyappa said: “There was no (weapons) training at the camp. Like every year, the VHP and Bajrang Dal held a camp for their workers. They organised it with permission from the school.”

He added: “The use of airguns came to our attention through social media. No permission is needed to buy or use airguns under the Arms Act and the Arms Rules.”

Former Karnataka minister and BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi defended the camp as “self-defence training” and compared it to police training.

“Even the police department does it (firearms training). The Bajrang Dal also organises it. So what’s the issue?” he asked reporters. “It’s airguns, not AK-47 (assault rifles) or bombs.”

An expert said that airgun shots could cause severe injury to people. The Opposition parties have so far been largely silent on the controversy.

The Kodagu deputy director of public instruction, Vedamurthy, told reporters that the private school had not sought permission to allow the camp on its compound.

“We are issuing a notice to the school today. Further investigation will follow after we receive their reply,” he said.

School president Jaru Ganapathy said the Bajrang Dal had held similar camps on the institution’s premises for “the last 10 years”.

“They were allowed to hold the training since the school was closed for the summer holidays. But I have no information about any arms training on the compound,” he said.

Ganapathy added that the school had no role in organising the camp. “They (Bajrang Dal) organised the food and accommodation (at the school).”

Afsar Kodlipet, state general secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India — political arm of the Muslim Right-wing group Popular Front of India — regretted that while schools “are not allowing Muslim girls to wear the hijab, they are letting Bajrang Dal youths participate in arms training”.

He sought action against the camp’s organisers.