Bajrang Dal activists created chaos at HITEC City, the IT hub of Hyderabad, on Valentine’s Day 2020 (the 14th of February.)
A group of people who claimed to be workers of the Bajrang Dal entered shopping malls and cafes crowded with people and vandalised these places.
They vandalised shops, cafes and stores which were decorated on the occasion of Valentine’s Day with red balloons, ribbons and other items. The motive of these Bajrang Dal activists is to save Indian culture and Hindu traditions from westeren influence.
Subhash Chander, the Co Convenor of the Bajrang Dal in Telangana, said, “Bajrang Dal activists have asked all the lovers they found at various places not to celebrate Valentine’s Day because it is not our culture. They were also asked to pay tributes to the Pulwama martyrs instead of celebrating Valentine’s Day.”
Besides vandalising shops and creating trouble for shop owners and the people seated there, these workers, who are mostly youth, held rallies across Hyderabad and staged protests at malls and restaurants.
The protests were carried out at several places in Hyderabad with one slogan—“Stop celebrating Valentine’s Day.”
One such incident took place at a cafe in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. A few boys of the Bajrang Dal entered a mall and destroyed its property. A video shared on social media platforms about a particular incident showed how 5-6 members of the Bajrang Dal behaved like hooligans and started damaging the property by saying, “Valentine band karo.”
Despite the video going viral and the faces of the culprits being clear and easily recognisable, the Police did not arrest any of the workers who could be seen in the video.
On the 14th of February, the workers of the Bajrang Dal roam on roads, keeping an eye on couples across India. Many such cases of vandalism were reported not only in Hyderabad but Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata as well.
