Members of Hindu Yuva Vahini during a procession in Saharanpur, western UP to celebrate the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of UP.(Aishwarya Kandpal/HT Photo)
Yogi Adityanath’s anointment as UP chief minister has made HYV the centre of gravity in the state. The organisation that was discredited as fringe is now the mainstream. Many HYV members are of the belief that with Yogi as the head of the state, the Hindutva agenda will get a boost and the organisation’s activities will scale up multifold. To HYV members, various functions of the brigade—formation of cow vigilante groups, anti-Romeo squads, protests against religious conversions—which were earlier perceived as radical, illegal or categorised as moral policing, now appear attuned to the priorities of the new chief minister.
Senior members of HYV are out to tap this energy. Tomar, who teaches commerce at a senior secondary school in Meerut, is visiting Saharanpur as part of his western UP tour to activate HYV’s units in the region. He is astute, soft-spoken, watches his words and is conscious of the renewed interest in Vahini. “We have to identify genuine people across districts and assign duties to them,” Tomar tells a gathering of workers.
Over a luncheon meeting at the residence Dr Yogendra Rana, state vice-president of HYV, Tomar explains how the new state government will affect Vahini’s operations. “Our workers suffered a lot in previous regimes. Every time they protested, the system looked at them as wrongdoers instead of arresting the real culprits. That will change now. The administration very well understands the intention of the person at the helm of affairs and works accordingly,” he says.
By the evening, news of Romeo squads in full swing in Jhansi and the burning of two meat shops Hathras is flashing on TV channels.
Tomar’s interactions with HYV members give insights to the organisation’s plans and priorities. As Tomar juggles his schedule, a Vahini member tells him that the name of a hospital in his area has been changed to a Muslim name. Tomar says that it is a better idea to name institutions after nationalist Muslims such as ABJ Abdul Kalam instead of opting for a local leader or an unknown person.
Watch: Hindu Yuva Vahini members talk about their agenda and hopes from the new state government
A volunteer is concerned regarding many members of the Dalit community in his locality converting to Christianity. Tomar raises his pitch. “The Christian missionaries have been luring our youth for ages now. You have to identify such people and persuade them to return to their original religion,” he says.
Yogi Adityanath, head priest at the Gorakhnath math in eastern UP and five time parliamentarian, founded HYV to fight ‘Islamikaran’ of the state. “Anti-social elements started entering UP from Nepal through Gorakhpur to break up our country. The problem of fake currency, cattle smuggling and human trafficking saw a rise. Numerous mosques, madrasas and shrines (sic) started coming up solely with the purpose of propagating anti- India sentiments,” says Tomar.