As various political parties gear up for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections and poll campaign gains momentum, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is planning to distribute tridents on a large scale in the national capital. While 7,000 to 8,000 tridents have already been distributed, the target is to distribute more than 50,000 tridents before the elections. However, the VHP claims that it has nothing to do with the elections.
As the term of the Delhi assembly ends on February 23, 2025, poll dates may be officially announced in the first week of January and voting may take place in mid-February.
VHP’s ‘Trishul Diksha Samaroh’ in Delhi
The trident campaign was launched on December 15, with the first event held in Paharganj and the next event lined up for January 19. These programmes are open for all and anyone can receive the trident.
This particular trident has been specially designed so that it does not fall under the purview of the Arms Act.
The VHP is inviting the general public through WhatsApp with the following message: “All of you must get your names registered and carry weapons.” In a way, it is also a recruitment programme for Bajrang Dal, the VHP’s youth wing.
“Those who are already in the organisation have to carry it (trident),” explains Surendra Gupta from the VHP’s Delhi unit. “Those who are not yet part of the organisation and wish to don it are taken on board.”
Tridents are being distributed in Delhi after a long time. According to Gupta, “The last time trishuls were distributed in Delhi was in 2012 or 2015.”
Tridents distributed by the VHP and Surendra Gupta. Photo: Special arrangement
When asked if tridents were distributed after such a long period in view of the upcoming elections, Gupta denies it and says, “The trishul diksha programme has been happening since the inception of the Bajrang Dal. It has also happened in Delhi from time to time. This is how the program is organised – once every five or ten years. It is because tridents stay with the generation which has already received it.”
“If we were doing this keeping the elections in mind, why wouldn’t we do it during the Lok Sabha elections? Or why didn’t we do it earlier in the municipal elections? The resolution to protect the Hindu society taken by the workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal is not based on elections,” Gupta added.
However, the issue that echoed during the Paharganj ceremony, which the Bharatiya Janata Party has made its primary poll issue, was “Bangladeshi infiltrators.”
The VHP’s central joint general secretary Surendra Jain, who attended the function as the keynote speaker, thanked the lieutenant governor of Delhi and said, “Delhi has become the first state to identify Bangladeshi intruders and start efforts to expel them from India due to the initiative of lieutenant governor Vinay Kumar Saxena. But we doubt whether the administrative officers of the lieutenant governor will seriously follow this commendable initiative and instruction of the lieutenant governor. Hundreds of Bajrang Dal workers are ready to cooperate with the lieutenant governor and the administration of Delhi to identify and expel illegal Bangladeshi intruders.”
VHP’s letter to the lieutenant governor of Delhi.
The VHP had also written a letter to the lieutenant governor on December 18, extending a helping hand.
As far as the electoral connection of the ceremony is concerned, Gupta himself had shared a poster of the “Trishul Diksha Samaroh” which used the same slogan Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used during the Maharashtra elections: “Stay united to stay safe.”
The purpose of trishul diksha
When asked why the VHP runs this weapon distribution programme, Gupta says, “All our gods and goddesses are depicted holding weapons in their hands. We also worship weapons on the day of Vijayadashami. We want every Hindu to don the Lord Mahakal’s symbol, trishul.”
Waving the trident from the stage, jathedar Harjeet Singh said in Paharganj, “Here, you’ve received one. But you must own five such of five feet each in your house. Eat less food, buy a cheap mobile phone, do anything, but vow to have five tridents in your house.”
Speaking to right-wing TV channel Sudarshan News during the ceremony, VHP Delhi state president Kapil Khanna said, “We pledged to end the evil practices of non-Hindu people in Delhi. We pledged to end all the evil deeds like love jihad, land jihad being spread by non-Hindu people in Delhi. We have also pledged to protect cows.”
Buddhist saint Rahul Bhante taking pledge at the trishul diksha ceremony. Photo: X/@BajrangDalOrg
Interestingly, during the weapon distribution ceremony held in Paharganj, the pledge was administered by a Buddhist saint Rahul Bhante, whose primary initiation calls for non-violence and compassion.
Jain had remarked that the violence in Sambhal was “part of a well-planned conspiracy.”
“Jihadi elements carry out attacks on religious pilgrimages of Hindus and even if established temples are surveyed legally, attempts are made to spread communal frenzy. Now Bajrang Dal workers have geared up to respond to such attacks,” Jain said.
Translated from the Hindi original – published first on The Wire Hindi – by Naushin Rehman.
