GUWAHATI: Three days after a video of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal (RBD) organising an arms training camp in Darang district went viral, the Assam police arrested two individuals in connection with the case on August 2. The arrests were made after the Assam police registered a case at Mangaldai police station under Section 153A/34 IPC on Tuesday. Notably, both arrested individuals have affiliations with the school involved in the matter.
In response to the viral video showing arms training conducted at Maharishi Bidya Mandir in Mangaldai, the Darrang Police had informed about the registration of the case via a popular micro-blogging website.
Earlier, Assam’s Director General of Police, G P Singh, had directed the Darrang district superintendent of police to file the case and take appropriate legal action against those allegedly involved in organising the camp.
Apparently, the four-day training camp that began on July 27, was organised by the Hindu right-wing group to “prepare the youth for any potential civil-war or protect themselves from jihadis”. Apart from arms handling, the camp also trained close to 400 participants on martial arts, aspects of survival skills, ideologies, and hand-to-hand combat, among others.
Slamming the event, the opposition has demanded immediate inquiry into the matter. In a letter –in this regard to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Congress legislature party leader, Debabrata Saikia, demanded action against the organisers and an inquiry into the role of the district administration, questioning their awareness or permission for conducting the camp where arms training was imparted.
The CPI (M) echoed the demand for an immediate inquiry into how Bajrang Dal members could freely use firearms, describing the incident as a “conspiracy to incite communal tensions in the state”. CPI (M) state secretary, Suprakash Talukdar, expressed concern over such incidents that pose a threat to peace and harmony in the state.
