| Type: | Far-Right Hindu nationalist organisation |
| Purpose: | Hindutva and Nationalism |
| Headquarters: | Gorakhpur, India |
| Founder: | Yogi Adityanath |
| Region Served: | Uttar Pradesh |
| Website: | https://hinduyuvavahini.co.in |
The Hindu Yuva Vahini is a Hindu youth religious group,[1] founded by Yogi Adityanath, intended successor of the Gorakhpur Mutt temple in Gorakhpur, India.
The group was founded in April 2002, on the day of Rama Navami by Yogi Adityanath. The organisation is headquartered in Gorakhpur.[2] [3]
Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) describes itself as “A fierce cultural and social organisation dedicated to Hindutva and nationalism.” Its stated objectives are: “the integration of and mutual good faith within the massive Hindu society, through the complete abolishment of the differentiation between touchable-untouchable and high-low, promote the harmonious development of society.”[4] However cow protection, fighting against Love Jihad and performing Ghar Wapsi are said, per media reports, to have been top priority on the Hindu Yuva Vahini's agenda.[5] [6]
The organisation has been involved in communal violence.[7] The Hindu Yuva Vahini has been charged by the police in the Mau riots of October 2005, where they organized the Hindu forces in opposition to a politician Mukhtar Ansari, the alleged murderer of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state legislature member Krishnanand Rai.[8] Charges of inciting riots, murder, and arson were brought against Hindu Yuva Vahini leaders, along with Ansari and some others in the opposite camp. Eventually, a curfew was imposed on Mau for nearly a month.[9]
In January 2007, they were accused of burning mosques, homes, buses and trains in Gorakhpur when claims of the Gorakhpur temple being attacked emerged. This led to the arrest of Yogi Adityanath and 130 other members.[10] After these arrests, the members were suspected of setting ablaze two coaches of the Mumbai bound Mumbai-Gorakhpur Godan Express.[11]
The organization was charged with burning an entire Muslim family to death in Vatoli, Adilabad, Telangana (then Andhra Pradesh) in 2008. However, Adilabad District Sessions Court judge Aruna Sarika quashed the case against all the nine accused arrested in this connection, all members of this organization due to lack of proper technical and scientific evidence produced by the Indian investigation agency CB CID.[12]