Hindu Yuva Vahini

The Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) is a Hindu youth group, founded by Yogi Adityanath, the leader of the Gorakhpur Mutt temple in Gorakhpur, India. The group has a high penetration among the largely unemployed youth of eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the collapse of the sugar industry and the closing down of a Fertilizer Corporation of India plant has led to increased unemployment in recent years. [ cite web
title = Between the grains: Purvanchal circumstances
author = Shikha Trivedi
publisher = Himal Southasian Magazine
url = http://www.himalmag.com/2006/may/cover_story_1.html
date = May 2006
accessdate = 2007-05-01]

By organizing various movements such as ‘Ram Prakostha’ for pavement dwellers and the ‘Bansfod Hindu Manch’ forwoodcutters, Adityanath has provided a sense of identity for many of these frustratedyouth, who have swelled the ranks of the Hindu Yuva Vahini. The HYV has many Dalit members in addition to traditional caste Hindus, and the group is united by opposition to Islamic Fundamentalists who have a history of dominating the region and engaging in the persecution of Hindus, especially low-caste Dalits who were rarely accorded protection from Islamic persecution by the caste Hindus because of traditional casteist prejudices.

The Hindu Yuva Vahini has been implicated by Islamist sympathizers in the Mau riots of October 2005, where they organized the Hindu forces in opposition to the militant Islamist politician Mukhtar Ansari, the alleged murderer of BJP state legislature member Krishnanand Rai. [cite news
title = Mukhtar Ansari appears in court in Mau riots case
publisher = The Hindu
url = http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/14/stories/2006061408360300.htm
date = 2006-06-14
accessdate = 2007-05-01] Charges of inciting riots, murder, and arson were brought againstHindu Yuva Vahini leaders Ajit Singh Chandel and Sujit Kumar Singh [cite news
title = Prof. Rooprekha Verma, Vibhuti Narain Rai, and Nasiruddin Haider
author = What Happened in Mau
publisher = The South Asian
url = http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2005/what_happened_in_mau.html
date = November 27, 2005
accessdate = 2007-05-13] , along Ansari and some others in the opposite camp. Eventually, a curfew was imposed on Mau for nearly a month.

The same groups accuse HYV of involvement in the Gorakhpur riots of January 26-31, 2007. After the arrest of Yogi Adityanath, the HYVlaunched retaliations. Two coachesof the Mumbai bound Mumbai-Gorakhpur Godan Express were set ablazeon January 30, 2007. [cite news
title = Vahini activists set train ablaze
author = Shahira Naim
publisher = Tribune News Service
url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070203/nation.htm#3
date = 2007-02-02
accessdate = 2007-04-26]

References