AGRA: Over 100 girls in the age group of 15 to 30 years from different parts of the country are participating in the ongoing “weapon” training camp, as a part of self-defence programme organised by Rashtra Sevika Samiti (National Women Volunteers Committee) affiliated to RSS, at Saraswati Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School in Aligarh.Talking to TOI, RSS Prachar Pramukh, Aligarh, Mahesh, said that the Rashtra Sevika Samiti is a Hindu nationalist women's organisation that parallels the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for men. Even though it is often referred to as the "Womens’ wing" of the RSS.He said the 18 day long camp, which commenced on June 5 and will conclude on June 23. The training includes weapons, physical, mental and intellectual. He told TOI that a “march” will be organised on Wednesday where these girls will perform the routines that they have learned at the camp.Dr Nisha Sharma, Mahanagar Seh Karyavahika, Rashtra Sevika Samiti said girls from Braj Meerut and Uttrakhand region are participating in the camp. She said, that all training, required for their physical, mental and intellectual development, is being imparted to them.All the girls, dressed in pink bordered white salwar kameez, swing their lathis and swords theatrically in the air to the beat of the drums. The girls, staying away from their homes, have adopted a strict, disciplinarian lifestyle like waking up every morning at 4am. After an hour, they assemble in the school’s courtyard, ready for the scheduled exercises. Before they begin, they sing a prayer and hoist the two-arrowed saffron flag, which they describe as their ‘guru’.After the self-defense exercises, the girls attend ‘baudhik’ (intellectual) sessions, where they are taught shlokas, told about the country’s ‘mahapurush’, ‘rishis’ and freedom fighters.Rashtra Sevika Samiti is a women-only Hindu nationalist group that was established in 1936 by Laxmibai Kelkar. The wing carries the same ideology as the men’s Swayamsevak Sangh, which believes in re-establishing the ‘Hindu rashtra’ by nurturing and maintaining the purity of the Hindu culture.The women’s wing works in tandem with the Sangh. When Kelkar first approached the founding Sarsanghachalak (chief) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Dr. Keshav B. Hedgewar, he immediately refused to allow women in his organisation. However, later he assisted Kelkar in establishing a parallel women-dominated body.

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