The Bajrang Dal is a hardline Hindu organization in India, is the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and is based on the ideology of Hindutva. Founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, India, it has since spread throughout India. The group claims to have 1,300,000 members, of whom 850,000 are workers, and runs about 2,500 akhadas (similar to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's shakhas). "Bajrang" is in reference to the Hindu deity Hanumān.
The Bajrang Dal's slogan is 'sevā surakṣā sanskṛti' or "service, safety, and culture." An integral part of its agenda is preventing the slaughter of cows (which is a directive principle, in Article 48, of the Indian Constitution). One of the Dal's goals is to build the Ramjanmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya, the Krishnajanmabhoomi temple in Mathura and the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Kashi (Varanasi), which are currently disputed places of worship. Other goals include protecting India's Hindu identity from the perceived dangers of communalism, Muslim demographic growth and Christian conversion.
Read more about Bajrang Dal: Origin, Ideology and Agenda, Controversies, Criticism, Demand For Ban, List of Presidents
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... He stated that the Bajrang Dal were not against Christianity in the region, but were offended by the alleged forced conversions ... Kumar resigned from Bajrang Dal on 1 October 2008 after witnessing a Hindu woman who had decided to commit suicide with her three children but was saved by Christian ... I joined Bajrang Dal so that we could mobilise the youth for a good cause, but at the end of the day all our concepts were politically motivated." In February 2011, after the commission reports into the ...
... Mahendra Kumar, the state convener for the Bajrang Dal group, claimed responsibility for the attacks ... The Bajrang Dal group claims that Hindus are being illegally converted to Christianity in the area ... and Orissa have led to calls for a ban on Bajrang Dal ...
... In 2004, he become the convenor for South India for the Bajrang Dal ... He was accompanied by the former district president of the Bajrang Dal for Belgaum, Vilas Pawar, and some 5,000 workers belonging to the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya ... The ban also included fellow Bajrang Dal leaders Vilas Pawar and Manoj Hanagal ...
... began when a group of some 15 youths on motorbikes from the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu nationalist organisation which aims to achieve the "reversing of the invasions by Muslim conquerors and British imperialism ... cricket stumps and sticks, shouting pro-Bajrang Dal slogans ... official report into the attacks later claimed that the Bajrang Dal were the likely suspects for the attacks on churches in Chikkamagaluru district, including the Christian Believers’ Prayer Hall ...