At a Shrimad Bhagwat Katha, far-right monk Madhuram Sharan Shiva, leader of the armed monks’ group Shiva Shakti Akhada, questioned whether any father would tell his children to “go and kill the dusht (wicked)” and blamed the destruction of the Akhada tradition for turning Hindus into “dhongi.” He fearmongered about the decline of Hindus, citing Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and claiming that Hindu populations in nine states had fallen from around 90% to as low as 5–10%, leaving Hindus unable to organise religious events. Citing an alleged incident in which Muslims stabbed a Hanuman temple priest to death and destroyed the temple idol, he claimed that a temple once visited by lakhs of devotees had only nine people present after its destruction. He alleged that Hindus had become “cowardly” and were unwilling to fight, questioning why they were not “dharm yodha.” He called for the revival of the Akhada tradition, urging Hindus to train their children to be “courageous, brave, and armed.” He claimed that religious scriptures are torn and places of worship are destroyed when people do not practise weapons training, and warned, “the coming time is one of war; whether you fight or not, they will fight; whether you kill or not, they will kill.”