Notwithstanding the vociferous emand by some parties for a ban on it, the Bajrang Dal is now setting up "security committees" across the country which, it claims, will function as vigilance groups against terrorists and anti-social elements.
       
"As the government has failed in matters of internal security, the Bajrang Dal has started constituting security committees," Surendra Jain, a spokesperson of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, told PTI in Lucknow  on Wednesday.
 
About 125 to 150 such groups have already been set up at the block level to gather information about terror suspects and pass it on to security agencies, he said.
       
It has been proved that terrorism can be countered only with the effective support and contribution of society, Jain said, maintaining the Dal "has taken up the initiative in this regard though it has been repeatedly attacked by certain political parties who have blatantly been appeasing Muslims".
       
Each committee will have a member of Bajrang Dal, a retired person from either police, army or administrative service besides another person who is well-versed in legal affairs and aware of the area's social fabric.
 
"These committees have started functioning as vigilance groups," Jain claimed, adding that "as of now areas which are supposed to be the breeding ground of terrorism have been taken up on priority basis."