During a Hindu Sammelan marking the centenary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), far-right monk Madhuram Sharan Shiva, leader of the armed monks’ group Shiva Shakti Akhada, invoked Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and claimed his mother trained him in both knowledge and weaponry to raise youth to protect a Hindu Rashtra and eliminate what he described as “darkness.” He claimed Hedgewar declared that “India is a Hindu Rashtra — it is not to be created but protected,” alleging ongoing conspiracies to destroy Hindus wherever they live. He urged Hindus to strengthen themselves and rejected slogans of communal harmony such as “Harijan–Muslim bhai bhai” and “Yadav–Muslim bhai bhai,” stating that those who raise such slogans are “rising again” and must be fought. He called on Hindu youth to arm themselves, display weapons during religious festivals instead of organising bhandaras, and train youth with weapons nightly, asserting that demonstrating arms is the only way to protect dharma.