The Sangh Parivar has added a new item to its genda; fighting Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its associates on the ground ...

..: The VHP and the Bajrang Dal ... have decided to set up at the national level a "special people's security force" (Prateyak Suraksha Samiti) with approximately one lakh units. Each unit would consist of between 20 and 25 volunteers. The professed idea is to emulate the Mossad.

the Israeli Intelligence organisation, which makes use of the common people to counter the activities of the country's enemies and to provide counter-intelligence ...

The primary tasks of the special Bajrang Dal units would include the surveying and listing of areas that are prone to ISI activity, surveillance of specific groups and people on the basis of these studies, reporting to the police and other security agencies on suspicious groups and people, and proactive action to prevent anti-India manoeuvres by the ISI. Giriraj Kishore said ... "While the focus would be principally on frontier areas with a problem record such as Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, other regions and States such as northeastern India, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala would also get special attention, as ISI activities are growing in these areas".

... To focus on the security concerns ... the Bajrang Dal invited Joginder Singh, former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), as the chief guest at (its Convention [3-5 March, 2000]). Senior office-bearers of the Bajrang Dal said that the training for the special force was to begin at its national convention, which had been scheduled to be held in Bhopal from February 18 to 20 ...

The tone was set by VHP international president Ashok Singhal, who said at a ... press conference that the Bajrang Dal would utilise "Hindu Shakti" to safeguard the country from ISI machinations ...

Joginder Singh ... was in complete agreement with Singhal ... In his opinion, the biggest contribution of organisations like the Bajrang Dal and the VHP was that they gave Hindus the confidence to say proudly that they are Hindus. Ile added that most Hindus were shy to call themselves Hindu, despite belonging to a very tolerant and liberal religion.

The former CBI Director also agreed with the idea of emulating the Mossad ... Joginder Singh added that in a country like India, where terrorism had acquired gigantic. proportions, people's participation in counter-espionage operations was of utmost importance. However, he was evasive whether counter-espionage would be effective if it alienated whole communities and led to minority-bashing ..:. Singhal advised Bajrang Dal activists that they did not have to use force always. "We just have to show our strength. The enemies would fall in line" ...

... That the political objective of the so-called anti-ISI  crusade was to target the minorities and once again queer the Hindutva pitch was clear from the tone of the deliberations. The strategy is similar to the one employed during the Ayodhya agitation and in the attacks against Christians last year.

At the organisational level, however, there is a difference - this time the police and the security forces would also be used to harass the minorities in the name of anti-ISI action ...

Many participants admitted that there was. a brief to strengthen Hindutva politics. By all indications, the pursuit of politics based on the "anti-ISI campaign" would unravel itself in full might in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due next year ... (V. Ramakrishnan in The Frontline, 31 March, 2000)