“We have only one clarion call…If you slaughter cows, there will be hell to pay,” Monu Manesar says in a film documenting the modus operandi of the Bajrang Dal vigilante. On the run after being booked for the murder of two Muslim men in February this year, Monu is again in the news for his alleged provocative speeches ahead of the Nuh and Gurugram communal violence that claimed seven lives.
A nexus of collaborators and informers, equipped with spiked bars, “modified” SUVs, GPS trackers and the patronage of the police – the film spotlights everything that enables Monu. As he explains his tactics to identify and “catch” vehicles carrying “cows”, Monu says he and his men block the roads “with the police’s help” if they find a truck with cows. “We block the road ahead with the police’s help…We take control, catch the vehicle and the cow smugglers.”
The film was made by independent filmmakers who trailed Monu and his accomplices for weeks between late 2021 and early 2022.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here
