By News Desk
As Valentine’s Day approaches, incidents of moral policing by Hindutva right-wing groups have once again surfaced in north India. A group of Bajrangdal members have launched a wide campaign, harassing unmarried couples in public parks in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
A series of videos that surfaced on social media on Thursday, February 13 shows the group wielding wooden batons and threatening couples sitting in public parks. The men wearing saffron scarves are seen confronting the young couples by inspecting their identity documents.
One clip shows the Hindutva group confronting a couple sitting on a bench, demanding them to show their identity cards and subsequently ordering them to leave the place. Another video shows a saffron-clad man grabbing a book from a young girl, who can be heard pleading, “Uncle please give me the book back”.
The members continue their aggressive approach by holding sticks while chanting “Jai Bajrangbali” and “Jai Shri Ram” slogans.
Hindutva organisations, particularly the Bajrang Dal which is a youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) have a long history of moral policing especially around Valentine’s Day.
The Right-wing groups initiate anti-valentine campaigns every February 14, using “Bharatiya Sanskriti” (Indian culture) claims as their basis for attacking unmarried couples.
These extremists direct most of their attacks toward interfaith couples while using ‘love jihad’ baseless accusations to support their claims.
This story was originally published in siasat.com.
