UP Assembly polls: Rebranding of Yogi Adityanath's radical stormtroopers

A glance at the rather run-down locked-up office of the Hindu Yuva Vahini near the railway station in Gorakhpur could give the impression that the place has been abandoned for long. Shopkeepers in the vicinity say somebody opens the place occasionally to clean it up but there is barely any activity like the days of yore. A call on the number pasted on the wall is answered by a man who directs one to the Goraknath temple. At the temple, a policeman on duty, when asked about the Hindu Yuva Vahini, says no such organisation exists anymore and gives directions to the Hindu Seva ashram in the temple complex. The ashram is nothing else but the BJP’s impressive election office with multiple “war rooms” in Gorakhpur.

As Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeks another shot at power in his first ever Assembly election from Gorakhpur Urban, also underway is a silent re-branding of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a radical outfit he established in 2002, when he was a parliamentarian.

The outfit, which carried out a staunch Hindutva agenda like re-converting Muslims to Hinduism, hounding inter-faith couples, and cornering cattle traders, has been relegated to the background in Gorakhpur. Known to campaign under its own banner for Yogi Adityanath while he was an MP from Gorakhpur, the Hindu Yuva Vahini has been asked to lie low. In fact, the organisation’s members have been working on the ground under the banner of the BJP.

But contrary to perceptions that the Hindu Yuva Vahini has popped off the radar, a concerted effort has been made by the BJP to disassociate the outfit as an extension of Adityanath — a process that began after he became chief minister in 2017. Its ruthless and rather efficient ground soldiers have been co-opted in the BJP’s campaign this time around. They are part of the party’s booth-level meetings and door-to-door propaganda in Gorakhpur. Instead of seeking votes, like they did in the past on their own radical agenda, they are propagating the BJP’s list of past achievements and electoral promises for the future. “We are constantly on the move across Gorakhpur. We tell people how much Gorakhpur has changed after Maharaj ji (Adityanath’s moniker) became chief minister,” said Ashish Gupta, a Hindu Yuva Vahini member.

Pramod Mall, general secretary of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, said: “We are working with the BJP in this campaign. This is a special moment for us because the chief minister himself is contesting from a Gorakhpur assembly seat. We are telling people how the administration, law and order, civic infrastructure, power supply, and the employment scenario has been completely transformed over the last five years.”

This in many ways marks a turnaround for Adityanath’s organisation, which, under his watch, had grown into a menacing outfit and whose members were alleged to be involved in the communal violence of 2007 in Gorakhpur. After the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, it reportedly organised open “re-conversion”, or ghar waapsi camps, in Gorakhpur and other parts of UP. From 2014 to 2017, the outfit targeted Muslims, whom it suspected to be cattle rustlers. As part of its re-branding, the outfit’s constitution, which every member has to inculcate while joining, has also been given a silent burial. The document included “Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains” in its definition of a Hindu. Its stated purposes included fighting caste discrimination, facilitating the return of converts to the Hindu fold, and eliminating cow slaughter.

The distancing of Adityanath from his organisation and the assimilation of its members under the BJP’s banner were expedited after he became chief minister. In many ways, this re-branding also marked his ascension in the BJP’s hierarchy and was essential to set the stage for a larger role in national politics in times to come.

Political observers say this two-tier structure served Adityanath well in the past. First, the Hindu Yuva Vahini helped him buttress his credentials as a firebrand Hindutva leader in Gorakhpur and other parts of Poorvanchal.

Secondly, the organisation gave him a buffer and a solid grassroots organisation that would serve as a foundation for a new political outfit if he were to ever leave the BJP.

“Adityanath’s phenomenal rise in the BJP after being anointed chief minister has eliminated that possibility. So, the Hindu Yuva Vahini’s utility in his scheme of things has declined dramatically. With nowhere else to go, its workers have little option but to work for the BJP. If he stays in office, his national prominence will increase exponentially,” said Kaushal Kishore Mishra, dean of political science, Banaras Hindu University.

So, have the activities of the Yogi army been finally calibrated with its master’s increasing political relevance? Mall said: “How can one say that conversions are not relevant? Even Muslims were Hindus before converting to Islam. We will keep facilitating re-conversion of those who wish to become Hindus again.”

The writer was in Gorakhpur