Bhiwani: Vivek, 27, could not fulfil his childhood dream of joining the Army, but he has no regrets. He instead became a “soldier” of the Bajrang Dal and is “serving the nation” by protecting cows and fighting ‘jihadis’, he says.
“The Army serves at the borders and saves the country from outside forces. I serve inside my country to save my Hindu religion and country from jihadis and Christian extremists. Bajrang Dal is also an army,” Vivek explains, sitting outside a gaushala (cow shelter) in Haryana’s Bhiwani, an orange muffler wrapped around his neck.
Vivek says he had slumped into a depression when he could not get into the Indian Army due to a health issue, but his life changed after he watched a YouTube video of a Bajrang Dal rally for a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Seven years ago, he not only joined the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), but also dropped his given surname. He now calls himself Vivek Bajrangi and runs a hair-cutting shop called ‘Hindu Barber’. Only Hindus are allowed inside.
Vivek was among the young men who joined a Hindu mahapanchayat in Bhiwani Thursday to rally behind the Bajrang Dal gau rakshaks (cow protectors) accused in the alleged killings of two Muslim men from neighbouring Rajasthan.
The charred remains of the men, Junaid and Nasir, were found in Bhiwani. The Rajasthan Police have said that they believe the two were suspected of cattle smuggling and attacked by cow vigilantes in Haryana. One of the accused is Monu Manesar, a Bajrang Dal worker who is a district-level member of the Haryana government’s cow protection task force and something of a local celebrity.
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