The Times of India,22 Dec 2008
Bajrang Dal starts campus recruitment
by Prashant Dayal, TNN
Ahmedabad: Could moral policing soon be a stark reality in college campuses across Gujarat? Bajrang Dal is now eyeing college campuses in the state for fresh recruitments.
In an unprecedented move, Bajrang Dal recruiters have swooped down upon college campuses on the state to garner active memberships in the state.
The move follows the decision taken at a national convention held in Indore in early November where co-ordinators decided that youth from the colleges should be roped into the organisation to scale up its eroding membership base.
The beginning expectedly is being made from Gujarat, considered the Hindutva laboratory in India.
State Bajrang Dal leaders said that it has been decided that Dal activists will form a committee in each college to attract more youth members into its fold. The initial target for the state Dal officials is to add one lakh more members as part of the current drive.
"Given the intial recruitment trends, Bajrang Dal activists will easily be able to attract nearly 1.5 lakh youth into its fold," said state general secretary Kaushik Mehta.
Bajrang Dal state co-ordinator Amrut Thakoreji said that each committee in the college will comprise five active members who will take charge of each campus and plan their activities.
Meanwhile, political observers are wary that the Bajrang Dal descending upon campuses may have serious political implications given the fallout between the Narendra Modi-led BJP and radical wings led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
There have been acute differences between the party and its rightist wings especially in the Modi regime in the past eight years where under the CM's leadership the very existence of the VHP and Bajrang Dal came under threat as the party proved it could win elections without the support of its radical ground workers.
"That BJP and VHP cannot see eye to eye is an open secret in the state. There is all possibility that Bajrang Dal's entrance in the campuses will lead to its clashes with the BJP students wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)," said an expert.
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