Tridents for Men and Daggers for Women

“We are committed to turning out the non-Hindu sinners from Delhi.”

- A VHP leader addressing a gathering in Delhi.

"..Consume less food, purchase a cheaper mobile phone, anything, only promise to have five tridents in a home”.

- Another VHP leader addressing a meeting in Delhi.

Provocative speeches and distribution of what is being peddled as 'legally permissible weapons' , very much in the heart of the national capital ; detailed plans to hold similar events all over the city, on the eve of elections – all this has not stirred the deep slumber in which the law and order machinery found itself in.

Thanks to the inaction, now the campaign to arm a section of radical Hindus has reportedly spread to the womenfolk as well. Plans are afoot to distribute 20,000 daggers to women from the majority community under what is being billed as 'Shastra Deeksha Samaroh'. In fact, media was agog with footage of daggers being distributed to Hindu women in the second week of January itself.

No doubt, it would be height of innocence to presume that the silence of the officers/ personnel entrusted with maintaining law and order in the city - which is directly under the purview of the Ministry of Home - is inadvertent.

These events are rather difficult to believe in a city still recovering from the 'riots' five year ago which saw deaths of innocents from both the communities and damage to their properties, with role of a section of the police itself coming under the scanner.

It is not difficult to imagine the serious impact such radical mobilisation of the majority community can have - with at least 50,000 Hindu men, the actual numbers could be far more, holding fresh tridents/trishuls and 20,000 women possessing daggers - on the social fabric of the city. With Republic Day celebrations approaching followed by elections to the Assembly, with three major players in the wings, it is anybody's guess that mischievous elements can engage in their dirty tricks, or even a single event/ non-event can bring the peace and harmony in the national capital under cloud.

What needs to borne in mind is that distribution of what are being portrayed as 'legally permissible weapons' (the term itself is an oxymoron) - focusing on the majority community - under religious garb have tremendous political overtones and such programmes held in the national capital are no exception.

It remains to be seen how such 'weapons distribution' does not come under censure of the Arms Act, 1959. Section 2(1) (c) of the Act defines "arms" as:

Articles of any description designed or adapted as weapons for offences, or defence, and includes firearms, sharp edged and other deadly weapons, and parts of and machinery for manufacturing arms, but does not include articles designed solely for domestic or agricultural uses such as a lathi, or an ordinary walking stick and weapons incapable of being used otherwise than as toys or of being converted into serviceable weapons.

The programme in Paharganj in Delhi in December 2024, where the regular right-wing rhetoric was very much on display, was not an isolated programme. It was an integral part of a 'series of far-right gatherings in December 2024' which had exposed a 'disturbing pattern of communal mobilisation which was spread across Punjab, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan according to the Citizens for Justice & Peace (CJP).

What one observes that even dates of programmes in Delhi, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh coincided with each other (15 December). According to close observers, all these events, "[w]hich involve distributing tridents and administering oaths to “protect Hindu identity,” have become platforms for promoting exclusionary ideologies and inciting communal hatred", CJP said. All these gathering where vilifying minorities, glorifying 'baseless conspiracies like ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad,’ ' calls for calling for economic boycotts', and glorifying vigilantism is freely on display thus 'deepen social divisions but also normalize the idea of violence under the guise of cultural or religious defence', the CJP added.

For example look at this report of a Trishul Deeksha event held in Nurmaha (Punjab), organised by VHP and Bajrang Dal, where '[a] far-right leader made several inflammatory remarks, invoking controversial issues tied to communal tensions.' He declared: “Now that Ram Mandir is built, Kashi and Mathura remain!”—a direct reference to the ongoing demands by right-wing groups to reclaim the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura. Such rhetoric stokes communal sentiments by framing these mosques as illegitimate structures atop Hindu temples.

Any close observer of the communal situation in the country can vouch that the idea of holding 'Trishul Deeksha Samaroh' by Hindutva Supremacists formations is not a recent one and has a more than two decade old history, where conscious attempts were made to vitiate communal atmosphere. In fact, while armed communal mobilisation of the wider populace has always remained on the agenda of these supremacists organisations, such attempts gathered further strength through this campaign. The programme of Trishul Deekshas was taken up as a broader campaign since 1998 which gained in pace and stridency since the Gujarat massacre in 2002. Formally such programmes were termed as symbolic religious exercise supposedly to awaken the people but its intent was clear.

Reports of resistance to such mischievous attempts were also not uncommon. According to a report:

Perhaps in this grim situation it would be soothing to remember that a decade ago public protests led by organisations like PUCL, MKSS and others had pressurised the then Gehlot government to not only bring the VHP led Trishul Deeksha programme under the purview of the Arms Act but also prosecute leaders like Togadia who had been making communal hate speeches in the Trishul distribution ceremonies.

With the ascent of these Supremacists forces in the national polity, of late such programmes are again gaining momentum.

Look at this complaint filed by CJP with Nagpur police against two trishul distribution events, organised by Bajrang Dal & VHP. It provided details of these 'two Trishul Diksha events held on May 2 and May 9' respectively by 'extremist outfits owing allegiance to Hindutva' where, in addition to distribution of tridents amongst men, hate speeches are delivered exhorting Hindus to take up arms.' Under these programmes demands for 'India as a Hindu nation were also raised', and the speakers 'indulged in peddling various conspiracy theories to generate hate towards Muslims.' The petition also talked about how "Bajrang Dal (BD) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have been organising such trishul distribution events regularly in the state of Rajasthan, and have been creating disharmony, furthering their communal agenda'.

Within less than three months CJP filed another petition with National Commission of Minorities against 'arms training camps, weapon distribution events in Assam and Rajasthan' held on July 30, 2023 and August 1, 2023, flagging "IPC violations, Arms Act breaches, and concerns for public safety and inter-community relations' in these programmes

According to the complaint, the 'arms training camp was organised by the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal in Darrang District of the state of Assam', where 'around 350 Hindu youths received training in handling firearms, martial arts, survival skills, and quick thinking. The intention of this camp was allegedly to fight against “love jihad” and create a divide among people from different communities, religions, and linguistic affiliations.' The Rajasthan story was bit different. Here 'fringe extremist organization of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal’ allegedly distributed sharp-edged tridents among hundreds of Hindu men in Jaitaran, Pali, Rajasthan. Participants took an oath to uphold a “Hindu Rashtra,” pledging allegiance to militant Hindu ideologies.

Within less than a month Sabrang published a detailed article unmasking 'the Ideological Shift in Rajasthan's Communal Landscape' with a special focus on trident distribution and collective pledges taken at these programmes and explained how it "[r]eflects a troubling trend of religious polarisation, challenging India’s secular fabric and communal harmony. The aggressive mobilisation and hate that inevitably accompanies such gatherings sets the stage of stigmatisation and targeting of minorities in the area.'

According to it, such events which hold deep symbolism within the context of Hindutva, signify not only 'Commitment to Hindutva Ideology', but also it is openly proclaimed 'their allegiance to an ideology that seeks to establish India as a Hindu-only nation', which 'goes against the principles of secularism enshrined in the Indian Constitution, that guarantees equal rights and freedoms to all religious communities.' It further explained how the pledge to protect Hindu Dharam - repeated umpteen times in such gatherings underlines their belief that such elements are under threat from other religious communities and how it 'fosters an "us versus them" mentality which further leads to 'social tensions and conflicts.'

Coming back to Delhi, one does not know whether the custodians of law and order in Delhi - who directly work under the central Ministry of Home Affairs, led by none other than Mr Amit Shah, would review their approach and try to rein in these fanatic elements.

An added complexity is the manner in which AAP has never been forthcoming about the politics of polarisation practised by the BJP which is being termed as its own Hindutva Lite politics by analysts.

AAP’s decade old history bears witness to its own game of pandering to the false anxieties of the majority community to try to win them over its own side. A glimpse of its myopic approach vis a vis this issue can be gleaned from its direction to schools to stop admission of ''illegal Bangladeshis' which contradicts its own policy.

Any neutral observer can see that the task of preserving the secular character of the polity and society becomes extremely difficult and challenging in such times.