The Hindu Yuva Vahini's hero-worship of Nathuram Godse, the Mahatma's murderer, has clear communal overtones. Sharat Pradhan reports.
The crackdown on the Hindu Yuva Vahini, whose activists were rounded up by the Uttar Pradesh police from eastern UP where its founder, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Yogi Adityanath enjoys considerable clout, does not seem to have dampened its spirits.
A band of Adityanath's followers went to the extent of dismissing Mahatma Gandhi as the Father of the Nation and raised pro-Nathuram Godse slogans in Ghazipur district.
All this occurred inside the premises of the Ghazipur police station where some 50
Vahini members were detained.
Led by state Vaihini president Sunil Singh, they raised slogans like 'Nathuram Godse amar rahein (Long live Nathuram Godse).'
Singh emphasised that he was an ardent admirer of the Mahatma's murderer.
'Godse is our idol and we believe in his ideology,' Singh told the media in Ghazipur while his supporters raised provocative Hindutva slogans.
Asked why the Vahini was praising Godse, Singh shot back, 'We do not consider Gandhi as the Father of the Nation. It is only the misguided people of this country who believe so. For us, the real father of this nation is Lord Krishna.'
