Mumbai: In December last year, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T. Raja Singh delivered one of his trademark communally charged speeches, indirectly attacking the Muslims as he went all-out against “love and land jihad”. The Telangana MLA’s fiery words were matched with his theatrical flashing of an unsheathed sword, which, he said, should be in the home of every Hindu.
His audience was a large crowd in Goa, a state known more for its scenic beaches, Portuguese-era churches and serene temples and, more importantly, an underlying peace among its different communities.
But in the last three-four years, India’s smallest state has seen much activism around ‘illegal’ cow slaughter, tussles between Hindu and Christian groups, and alarm bells being rung about the “rise of Muslim population in Goa”.
Coinciding this period is the swelling ranks and ever-rising presence of the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), in Goa since the end of 2021.
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The Opposition leaders allege that the outfit has grown with the patronage of the ruling BJP, pointing to how Sanket Arsekar, an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, is a leader of the Bajrang Dal.
Now, the Bajrang Dal’s supposed clout became a talking point with the transfer of Superintendent of Police, South Goa, Sunita Sawant for reportedly seeking some intelligence inputs about some of its members.
The SP did not respond to ThePrint’s call. This article will be updated as and when a response is received.
The transfer, according to VHP spokesperson Shriraj Nair, was a government procedure. “We do not speak on government matters,” he told ThePrint.
On Wednesday, Congress state president Amit Patkar asserted that the police officer’s transfer “exposes yet again how the administration is being controlled by the RSS-BJP agenda rather than the rule of law”.
“The moment an officer starts doing her duty—gathering information about Bajrang Dal leaders—the BJP government panics and removes her. This move makes it clear that the BJP is not interested in governance but in shielding its ideological allies and suppressing any attempt to hold them accountable,” he added in a post on ‘X’.
Goa Forward Party (GFP) president Vijai Sardesai, too, alleged that the outfit has grown at the behest of the government. “They have got protection from the government to slowly change the fabric of Goa. Their interference with beef transportation is very common,” he told ThePrint.
ThePrint reached Goa BJP President Damu Naik via calls. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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From one unit to presence in 150 villages
Launched in 2021, the Bajrang Dal’s Goa unit has grown to a following of almost 3,000 members as of today.
In November that year, in one of its first activities, the Bajrang Dal gave a memorandum to the then Goa governor talking about a rise in atrocities against Hindus across the countries, and the growth of elements such as the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Goa. The delegation also raised an objection against shows of stand up comedian Munawar Faruqui’s shows being organised in Goa.
Hindus comprise 64.68 percent of the state’s population, Christians 29.86 percent and Muslims 5.25 percent, according to the Goa government.
Mohan Amshekar, the vibhag mantri for the VHP in Goa and a former MLA, told ThePrint about how the VHP sowed the seeds of its youth wing bit by bit, first sending a single team for training in the outfit’s philosophies and activities.
Post the training, 18 blocks in North Goa and South Goa districts, started organising ‘satsangs’ (spiritual discourses) in every village. The idea was to bring the people together once a week and hold programmes about spirituality of the mind and body.
“We attracted a large number of youngsters in these satsangs. Then once in two months, we held workshops on how to conduct satsangs, how to hold programmes, the practices of ‘niyuddha,’ ‘danda,’ ‘kshamata’ (practised in Sangh’s branches), and class about the country, the Hindu society, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We also held three-day residential workshops in Goa,” Amshekar recalled.
Post these training programmes, satsangs started in large numbers and for every event, the Bajrang Dal drew about 25 to 40 youngsters. As of today, the Goa unit has a presence in about 150 villages. The state has 334 villages across North and South Goa districts.
All its Goa Bajrang Dal members are educated, young professionals, according to VHP’s Nair.
“The Bajrang Dal is growing very strongly in Goa. Lots of youth are coming forward. We don’t have a single school dropout among our members. We all have educated boys, law students, engineering students,” he added.
Amshekar rejects the suggestion that the Bajrang Dal flourishes because there is a BJP government with a strong majority at the helm. “It’s the converse.”
“The environment is definitely positive for the growth of Bajrang Dal’s ideology. But that’s not just because of there being a BJP government, but it is an awareness that has been created through years of the work of the RSS and the VHP. In fact, it is because of this awareness that the BJP government came to power,” Amshekar said.
From rallies for Shivaji to cow slaughter protests
One of the Goa unit’s first major activities was a ‘Shiv Shourya Yatra’ for nine days in 2023, starting from the Betul fort and culminating at the Tivim fort where Shivaji had waged a war against the Portuguese. The Goa CM was present at the event, Amshekar said.
In fact, Raja Singh’s speech was part of a Shourya yatra organised by the Bajrang Dal.
The same year, Bajrang Dal leaders had clashed with the Calangute panchayat over a 16-foot statue of Shivaji that had come up almost overnight at a prominent circle in the village. The panchayat had passed a resolution against the statue, calling it illegal. Soon, a massive protest followed after which the Calangute sarpanch apologised for asking for the statue’s removal and kept the panchayat resolution in abeyance.
That year, members of the Bajrang Dal along with some other Hindutva groups staged a large protest demanding the arrest of a priest, who said that Shivaji is a national hero and not God. Later, the priest came out saying his statements were taken out of context and misinterpreted.
The Bajrang Dal has also raised objections to ‘illegal’ cow slaughter in Goa, a state where it is not banned, but regulated, and where beef is an integral part of the diet of a section of the population.
For instance, in one of the videos shared on the Instagram page of Goa Bajrang Dal, its members are shown stopping a car and forcing the driver to open the trunk to reveal “beef” being transported to Goa “illegally” from Karnataka.
Amshekar rejects criticism of the Bajrang Dal or the VHP inciting communal strife in any way.
“We are not against any religion or any person or any political party. We are only against anti-national forces. We are against those who are against the country, religion, Hindu Sanskriti,” he said. “If someone is taking offence to our devotion to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, then there’s very little I can say about that.”
Lawyer and political commentator Cleofato Coutinho told ThePrint that it appears that CM Sawant is trying to tacitly gain some additional muscle through the activities of the Bajrang Dal.
“There’s always an internal tussle within the parties and having that extra ‘Hindutva’ factor will help the CM better appeal to his voters. Over the past few years, the Bajrang Dal’s presence has become very evident in some parts of the state,” he said. “When it is cow slaughter, their target is often Muslims. When it is about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, they have clashed with Catholics.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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