Young Kerala women carry swords on the road during Durga Vahini rally, cops file case

Two weeks after a case was filed over hate slogans raised by a 10-year-old boy in a Popular Front of India rally in Alappuzha district, another FIR was registered by the Aryancode police in Thiruvananthapuram district after some girls carried swords during a march conducted by Durga Vahini, an organisation of Hindu girls and women affiliated to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The Durga Vahini procession was taken out on May 22 near Neyyattinkara and the participants were seen marching towards a school called Saraswathi Vidyalaya. A video circulated on social media showed three girls in the front carrying swords. Those who followed them carried long sticks. The controversy erupted after it was claimed that carrying swords give a wrong message and invoke enmity between communities. Durga Vahini, according to the VHP website, admits Hindu women aged between 15 and 35. The members wear white salwar, white kurta, saffron chunari, white Joota (of cloth) and socks; and a belt with Durga Vahini Inscription.

The case was registered under IPC sections for unlawful assembly and the Arms Act. However, after the case was registered in Thiruvananthapuram, the VHP claimed that the charges were false. In a press note the VHP said that the rally was Pathasanjalanam (route march) and  the women were representing armed Goddess Durga and the swords were fake.

The Parishad also alleged that the  case against Durga Vahini was to equalise the incident with the hate sloganeering during the recent PFI rally. “Durga Vahini had been conducting programs inside and outside the country for many decades. This case was registered so that Pinarayi Vijayan could appease voters belonging to the minority community. We will organise such marches again against Love jihad and anti-nationals,” said the statement by VHP state president Viji Thampi and general secretary V R Rajasekharan said.

They also alleged that Kerala government is encouraging groups that are in cooperation with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Durga Vahini has been conducting rallies across Kerala for the last many years. In 2021 October, a controversy erupted after  several women allegedly belonging to Durga Vahini, carried swords in public as part of Dasara celebrations. In 2019 June several women workers of VHP were booked for firing air rifles and showcasing swords in a rally in the Nigdi area of Pune.

There have been several reports of Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini organising arms training camps across the country. The VHP had justified such camps, calling them “physical exercises”.

The world before her, a documentary by Nisha Pahuja, an independent Canadian film maker, had probed the inner workings of Durga Vahini. The movie revealed the thought processes of its members and the kind of physical training given to them. The girls are encouraged to get married by 18 and not to be too ambitious about their careers as it is a western concept. The documentary also shows the leader of the organisation named Prachi stating that she hates Gandhi and would kill anyone who is against her religion.

Girls interviewed in the film reveal that they were given arms training and if needed they will use it to kill.