Durga Vahini
{{Short description|Indian political organisation}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox organisation
| name = Durga Vahini
| logo = Durga Vahini official logo.jpeg
| formation = {{start date and age|1991}}
| logo_size =
| logo_caption = Official Logo of Durga Vahini
| headquarters = New Delhi, India
| purpose = Women's wing of Vishva Hindu Parishad
| parent_organisation = Vishwa Hindu Parishad
| affiliation = Sangh Parivar
| region_served = India
| language = Hindi
| website = {{url|https://vhp.org/durga_vahini/}}
}}
Durga Vahini (ISO: {{Transliteration|hi|Durgā Vāhīnī||italics=inherit}}, {{Lit|Battalion of Durga}})[https://www.learnsanskrit.cc/translate?search=battalion&dir=au Results for battalion] earnsanskrit.cc is the women's wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It was established in 1991 and its founding chairperson is Sadhvi Rithambara. The Vishva Hindu Parishad states the purpose of the Durga Vahini is to empower women, encourage more women to participate in spiritual and cultural activities. Kalpana Vyash, a senior leader of the organization, said that the Durga Vahini members dedicate themselves "to physical, mental and intellectual development".{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020412/nation.htm#7|title=Women 'Ram Bhakt' hog limelight|date=2002-04-11|access-date=2008-06-29|newspaper=The Tribune}} The aim of the organization is to establish Hindu solidarity by helping Hindu families during the time of hardship and by providing social services.{{cite book
|author= Patricia Jeffery, Amrita Basu
|title= Appropriating Gender: Women's Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia
|publisher= Routledge
|year= 1997
|pages= 168
|isbn= 0-415-91866-9
}} According to Vyash, the total membership of the group is 8,000 as of 2002, and 1,000 members are from Ahmedabad.
Activities and ideology
The Durga Vahini is often considered to be the female face of the Bajrang Dal. The organization is described as a right-wing religious fundamentalist group.{{cite book
|author= Fiona Wilson, Bodil Folke Frederiksen
|title= Ethnicity, Gender, and the Subversion of Nationalism
|publisher= Routledge
|year= 1995
|pages= 91
|isbn= 0-7146-4155-3
|author= Joanna Kerr, Alison Symington
|title= The Future of Women's Rights
|publisher= Zed Books
|year= 2005
|pages= 81
|isbn= 1-84277-459-X
}}
The Durga Vahini recruits young women for activism of a militant nature. It targets women from underprivileged caste backgrounds and poorer families, but retains a corps of members whose families have a lengthy history of involvement with the group. Members learn karate and lathi khela, and receive ideological education.{{cite book
|title= Feminist Review: Issue 49
|publisher= Routledge
|year= 1995
|pages= 13
|isbn= 0-415-12375-5
}} Analyzing the role of women in the Hindu nationalist movement, scholar Thomas Blom Hansen writes that the RSS is more willing to expose women of lower-caste backgrounds to physical danger, and believes that the Durga Vahini is likely to become popular among lower-caste women because they desire to emulate upper-caste values.
In the Bijnor riot in 1990, activists belonging to the Durga Vahini allegedly organized a procession of Hindu men through the Muslim quarters of Bijor shouting provocative slogans which started violence.{{cite book
|author= David E. Ludden
|title= Contesting the Nation: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy in India
|publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press
|year= 1996
|pages= 77
|isbn= 0-8122-1585-0
}}
On 16 March 2002, Durga Vahini activists wielding tridents and sporting saffron headbands arrived at the Orissa Assembly along with VHP and Bajrang Dal members.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne190108next_stop.asp|title=Next Stop Orissa|author=S. Anand|date=2008-01-19|access-date=2008-06-29|magazine=Tehelka|archive-date=18 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518043805/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne190108next_stop.asp|url-status=dead}}
The Durga Vahini was alleged to have participated in the 2002 Gujarat violence.{{cite news|url=http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/020901/dmag12.htm |title='Stop funding fascist Hindus!' |author=Anjum Niaz |date=2002-09-01 |access-date=2008-06-29 |newspaper=Dawn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713084648/http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/020901/dmag12.htm |archive-date=13 July 2007 }} Durga Vahini has denied such allegations. Regarding the Durga Vahini's role in the riots, VHP spokesman Kaushikbahi Mehta said, "We in the VHP had nothing to do with the violence except to take care of widows and victims of the Godhra mayhem. So was the case with the Durga Vahini". But many people claimed that white-churidar clad girls were involved in the violence. A senior police official said, "They were found providing healing touch to the male activists, information back-up and if the ethnic cleansing theory is true, I have a feeling they played a significant role in intelligence network as well. While it will be very difficult to prove their direct involvement, women Sanghis had definitely scrutinised voters’ list or the traders’ licence papers to screen the minorities with an innocuous intention".
Six members of the Durga Vahini were arrested in Gwalior in March 2004 for blackening the face of Neetu Sapra, director of the play Kal Aaj Aur Kal. The Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal claimed the play depicted Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman in "indecent" way. The activists also damaged the furnitures in Sapra's home.{{cite news |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/15/stories/2004031509931500.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802233650/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/15/stories/2004031509931500.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2 August 2010|title='Durga Vahini' activists held|date=2004-05-15|access-date=2008-06-29|newspaper=The Hindu}}
In July 2017, Durga Vahini organized a training camp for self-defence in Jammu & Kashmir, girls from 17 border towns of the state participated in the camp.{{Cite web|url=http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/j-k-girls-turn-up-in-huge-numbers-at-durga-vahini-training-camp-for-self-defence-exercise-325387.html|title=J&K Girls Turn up in Huge Numbers at 'Durga Vahini' Training Camp for Self-Defence Exercise|date=7 July 2017}}
See also
- The World Before Her, a 2012 documentary partly chronicling the training at a Durga Vahini camp
- Rashtra Sevika Samiti
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://vhp.org/vhp-glance/youth/durga-vahini Durga Vahini] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625044013/http://vhp.org/vhp-glance/youth/durga-vahini |date=25 June 2014 }}, Vishva Hindu Parishad website
{{Sangh Parivar}}
Category:Religiously motivated violence in India
Category:Women's organisations based in India