Bajrang Dal organises arms training for 350 youth in Assam

Around 350 young men in Assam received training on handling arms, including small guns, during a seven-day camp between July 24 and July 30, organized by Rashtriya Bajrang Dal in Mornoi village in Darrang District, 100 kilometres from state capital Guwahati.  

In the camp, the cadres received training in martial arts, weapons, survival skills, quick thinking, politics and Vedic rituals. The training also included ideological orientation and hand-to-hand combat. The trainees were aged between 18 and 30. Rashtriya Bajrang Dal led by Praveen Togadia claims to have recruited 50,000 youths in Assam. 

Speaking exclusively to India Today NE, Nilav Ritu, vice-president of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal acknowledged that the training indeed took place and was done to counter the security threat posed by alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The objective of the camp was to combat suspected jihadis and to remain prepared for a civil strife-like situation. “There is a sense that illegal Bangladeshis have entered Assam as there have been a few unreported instances. If these Bangladeshis attack us on a huge scale and engage us in a combat, we are preparing our people for self-defence,” said Nilav.  

The trainers for the camp, including one retired CRPF officer and one retired civil servant, were brought in from Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Some retired government officials from Assam also volunteered train the youth, especially for survival skills and martial arts, informed the sources. 

According to a few leaders of the organisation, this type of training is happening in most parts of India and has plans to organize more such training programmes in suspected Bangladeshi-dominated areas in Assam. Rashtriya Bajrang Dal has been conducting such arms training in Assam since 2018, with a total of six camps held in locations like Tamulpur, Hojai, Dhubri (twice), Nalbari, and Mangaldoi. So far, 2,400 cadres have received training in these camps.