Bajrang Dal On Valentine's Day

About

Bajrang Dal On Valentine's Day refers to a series of memes and discussions about the fringe Hindu nationalist group Bajrang Dal and their alleged practice of harassing unmarried Indian couples on February 14th, Valentine's Day. Memes about Bajrang Dal members gearing up for their supposed yearly activity began gathering attention after the year 2018, with Facebook and Twitter users being the first to joke about couples and events being harassed by the group before Instagram pages began spreading more memes on the topic after 2021.

Origin

Hindu fringe group Bajrang Dal, alongside other groups like Hindu Mahasaba, have a history of holding anti-Valentine's day protests on account of the celebration being "foreign," "anti-national," and "anti-Indian values." The group's misgivings with the celebration hinge on their belief that unmarried couples are (and by extension premarital sex is) immoral.^[1][2][3]

On February 7th, 2017, Facebook^[4] page RVCJ Media posted the earliest known meme to reference Bajrang Dal's reported practice of harassing couples and venues celebrating Valentine's Day. The post gathered over 100,000 likes in nearly six years (seen below, left). Another Facebook^[5] page posting Bajrang Dal on Valentine's Day memes was Certified Bakchodi, gathering over 19,000 likes in six years (seen below, right).

Spread

On February 6th, 2019, Facebook^[6] page The Engineer Bro posted a meme that translates to, "14th February is Valentine's Day for couples, and Wrestlemania for Bajrang Dal." The post gathered over 8,000 likes in nearly four years (seen below, left). On January 14th, 2020, Facebook^[7] page DevManush posted a meme about Bajrang Dal and Valentine's Day as well, gathering over 100,000 likes in nearly three years (seen below, right).

Various internet users continued to comment on Bajrang Dal's illegal practice in consecutive years, with Twitter^[8] user @HoeZaay posting a video sketch showing him and a friend reacting to Bajrang Dal members vandalizing Valentine's Day decorations on Feb 14th, 2018. The tweet gathered over 400 likes in nearly five years (seen below).

Never inviting the Bajrang Dal to any more of our Valentine's parties or family functions in future.. pic.twitter.com/IQC5SoHrrD

— pAgaL_P₹oj3ct (@HoeZaay) February 14, 2018

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References