We Attacked JNU, Claims Hindu Raksha Dal; Twitterati Not Convinced

In the video, Tomar repeatedly says that members of the Hindu Raksha Dal were responsible for the violence.

The Hindu Raksha Dal has taken full responsibility for the attack on JNU students and vows to do it again, if the need arose.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A day after armed and masked miscreants wreaked havoc in the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on Sunday, 5 January, a video showing one Bhupendra Tomar aka Pinky Bhaiyya taking responsibility for the attack on JNU students, has gone viral on social media.

Tomar claims to be the president of the Hindu Raksha Dal, a right-wing outfit.

Identifying himself as Pinky Chaudhary, he repeated the same claims to news agency ANI. “JNU is a hotbed of anti-national activities, we can't tolerate this. We take full responsibility of the attack in JNU and would like to say that they were our workers,” he said.

This comes in the midst of several news reports investigating the role of WhatsApp groups run by ABVP members, in planning and executing the rampage in the university. Quoting ‘governemnt souces’, ANI also reported that the Delhi Police had taken cognisance of the claims and was analysing video footage and using face recognition software to identify the “masked men in JNU”.

In a two-minute-long video, Tomar can be repeatedly seen saying it was members of the Hindu Raksha Dal who were responsible for the violence against students. He also vowed to mete out the same treatment to those who dared to take part in “anti-national” or “anti-Hindu” activities in the future.

Calling JNU an ‘adda for communists’, Tomar added the outfit was fully responsible for the violence in JNU, further saying its members were ready to “lay down their lives in service of ‘Bharat Mata.’” In 2014, Tomar is believed to have reportedly led protests and vandalization of the AAP office in Ghaziabad and surrendered to cops for the same.

In a tirade against the JNU students, Tomar alleged that such students receive education in the country’s institutions and yet, participate in activities that go against the country.

“We (Hindu Raksha Dal) won’t be able to tolerate such activities. Such people live in our country, eat our food, and get educated in our institutions. What do they want? Such activities will not be tolerated by us. If more anti-national activities take place in our country, they would receive the same answer they got last evening,” Tomar said.

He went on to say those who were willing to fight against ‘Bharat Mata’, did not deserve to live in India.

“We take responsibility for JNU violence, they were our people. And those who can’t serve Mother India, they have no right to live here. We are ready to serve ‘Bharat Mata’ at any time, and even sacrifice our lives for it. We will not spare those who speak against our religion,” he added.

Why No Arrests? Twitterati Ask Delhi Police

Twitter users took to the social networking platform to express concern about Tomar’s ‘confession’, with many urging the Delhi Police to take action against him. Terming Tomar a gunda (thug), senior lawyer Prashant Bhusham asked why the Delhi Police had not arrested him yet.

Many users believed that it was a mere ploy to keep the real perpetrators out of the picture.

(With inputs from India Today)