'When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government hastily served notices to more than 300 people for allegedly damaging public property during the recent anti-CAA protests, many recalled how hundreds of serious criminal cases against him and his Hindu Yuva Vahini members are still pending. But a bigger indictment than these cases are the annual reports of Uttar Pradesh Police’s intelligence units – which I have accessed – against the Hindu Yuva Vahini, an outfit that Adityanath established...
'There are multiple lessons to be drawn from the conduct and experience of Furqan Ali and his schoolchildren. None perhaps more significant than the need to harness the everyday togetherness of religious communities to counter the Sangh Parivar’s politics of hatred, which seeks to demonise Muslims as anti-national and isolate them. For those late on the story, here is a recap: Furqan Ali was the headmaster of the Ghayaspur primary school, in Bilaspur block of Pilibhit district, Uttar Pradesh, until he was suspended last week.
'An outfit floated by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday offered all possible help “including guns” to the Hindus of Bisada village, as it alleged that they were being hounded following the lynching of Mohammed Ikhlaq. Several members of the group, ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini’ on Wednesday tried entering the village but were stopped by the police in view of the prohibitory orders. “We will go and meet Hindus who are being harassed by authorities.
'Tension prevailed in Madhopur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district after 150 Muslim families reportedly left their homes Monday, fearing a backlash from BJP MP Yogi Adityanath’s outfit Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) over a land dispute. Heavy police force including PAC personnel have been deployed in the village to prevent any disturbance. Kushinagar additional district magistrate Ram Kewal Tiwari admitted that there is tension in the village. “It is a property dispute. There was a minor clash and we deployed PAC.
'Young couples faced the wrath of moral policing by saffron outfits like Bajrang Dal, Hindu Mahasabha, Shiv Sena and Hindu Yuva Vahini in different parts of Uttar Pradesh on Valentine's Day on Saturday. While 'love birds' were publicly humiliated and manhandled by the members of the saffron outfit in Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi and Bulandshahr, in Gorakhpur police were seen chasing couples from parks and public places. Several activists were arrested and detained on charges of breach of peace.
'Activists of the right-wing Hindu organisations like the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena on Saturday tried to disrupt Valentine's Day celebrations at several cities, particularly the State capital, Kanpur and Bareilly, and targeted young couple at shopping malls and parks. The police, which were on high alert, arrested several people for disturbing law and order situation.
"Last month, senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi declared that if Yogi Adityanath, BJP MP from Gorakhpur, had spoken of “love jihad” in Bihar the way he did in Uttar Pradesh, he “would have contradicted him”. It was a strong statement coming from an RSS-trained politician, which suggests that the BJP’s rising star in UP belongs to a different school of thought. Adityanath embodies a specific tradition that can be traced back to Digvijay Nath, a major figure in the line of mahants of the Gorakhnath temple of Gorakhpur.
'...Recently, a video surfaced in which he allegedly exhorted Hindu men to convert 100 Muslim girls to Hinduism for each Hindu converted to Islam. Yet, the BJP appointed him the star campaigner for the bypolls in 11 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. In the past few years, Adityanath’s political presence had remained almost dormant. But after the BJP’s sweeping victory in the recent General Election, he is back with a bang. His rising fortunes became clear when he represented the BJP in the Lok Sabha debate on the sensitive issue of communal riots.
'Some weeks ago, on a hot, humid evening, there was a book release in Delhi’s Constitution Club, a short walk from Parliament House where the Narendra Modi government was engaged in its first session. Union cabinet minister for micro, small and medium enterprises Kalraj Mishra had written Hindutva: Ek Jeevan Shaili (Hindutva: A Way of Life) in the twilight of his political career. At 73, Mishra—one of the old hands from Uttar Pradesh—is one of the more fortunate 70-plus leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party to be accommodated in the Modi cabinet.
"Gorakhpur: Fear has gripped Muslims in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh after Hindu goons affiliated to the Hindu Yuva Vahini made provocative speeches on Wednesday in presence of local administration and police and attacked Muslims. The incident occurred in Gainsetry Thana. The situation is tense but under control, claimed said police which reportedly remained as mute spectator during whole episode and slapped cases against six Muslims under various stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code..."
