“I am an organic product of ABVP,” said Shah, the country’s second most powerful person, while inaugurating the student organisation’s annual convention in early December.

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“I cannot express how proud I feel today,” he said as he was honoured as the chief guest at the 69th ABVP Conference.

“Only a person who began his journey by sitting at the last row of the pandal [makeshift shelter] of the Rajkot ABVP National Conference can truly understand.”

More than 10,000 students from across the country took part in the four-day convention in Delhi. The conference’s venue was filled with symbols of nationalism – from saffron flags and temple models to depictions of Indian freedom fighters.

ABVP claims its main purpose is to promote the study and political cause of traditional Indian culture and philosophy among young people, but their leaders are clear that this is meant to arouse a strong sense of nationalism among its members.

“The only objective of Vidyarthi Parishad is to maximise the positive participation of youth in all areas of society and to awaken the feeling of nationalism in every youth,” ABVP’s national general secretary Dr Yagywalkya Shukla told This Week in Asia.

However, critics argue that the organisation is a polarising force in academia and its right-wing ideology is increasingly becoming the basis of national policy.

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The strength of ABVP

Established in 1948 as a countermeasure to then-rising communist ideological groups, ABVP has steadily grown into a formidable force in the political realm and the academic world.

Through student elections and government, ABVP has made its presence felt on university campuses, including at prominent educational institutions such as Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Colleges and universities across India often serve as breeding grounds for political ideologues, with parties nurturing young talents, turning them into loyal voters and, in some cases, political leaders. Membership in ABVP has become the launching pad for the political careers of many BJP and RSS members.

“ ABVP prepares students to do their best, to effectively shoulder these responsibilities and to provide dynamic, vibrant, and nationalist leadership in all domains of society,” Shukla said.

While ABVP leaders espouse high-minded goals, the organisation and its members have been accused of perpetrating numerous violent incidents over the years, including unruly protests, riots and assaults.

Politicising academia

A number of high-profile academics have faced the wrath of ABVP student protesters. One such academic, who was forced to resign from his post last year, spoke to This Week in Asia about his experience on the condition that neither he nor his university be identified, fearing further persecution.

He described being relentlessly hounded and harassed solely because of his religious identity. When asked why he was specifically targeted by ABVP members, he responded, “It’s because I’m a Muslim,” with a wry laugh, implying that the reason was obvious.

“I did everything in my capacity to benefit the students. What these [ABVP protesters] did to me was horrible. All the other teachers who were targeted were also Muslims,” he said, adding that he also received death threats from protesters.

Similarly disruptive and at time violent ABVP-led protests have taken place at major institutions across India, including JNU, Delhi University, Jadavpur University, Utkal University, Panjab University, and Gorakhpur University.

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Indian students surviving ethnic violence face shattered dreams and uncertain future

Indian students surviving ethnic violence face shattered dreams and uncertain future

Critics argue that ABVP’s activities have become more audacious since the BJP came to power in 2014.

Earlier this month, the ABVP chapter at JNU burned effigies of the university’s administration in protest of regulations prohibiting any form of demonstration within 100 metres of the campus.

In February, clashes erupted between students with opposing ideologies at JNU, resulting in injuries to several students. In September, JNU’s chapter of the National Students’ Union of India accused ABVP members of attacking a physically disabled student. The ABVP denied the allegation.

Many of ABVP’s actions have been in opposition to the Muslim community and its members, in keeping with its goal of turning India into a Hindu nationalist state.

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“The ideology of Hindutva, which aims to make a secular country like India into a Hindu nation, captures students in the name of modesty, values, and wisdom and uses them as its vanguard squads” said Bhanwar Meghwanshi, a social activist and author of the book I Could Not Be Hindu: The Story of a Dalit in the RSS.

“ABVP has already strengthened its hold, especially in the schools, colleges, and universities of the Hindi belt of North India,” he added.

He argues this world view, instilled by the ABVP into its alumni politicians, is increasingly reflected in the central government’s policies. This includes objectives such as a uniform civil code, which would override the personal laws of religious communities in India, particularly Muslims; a pro-Israel foreign policy stance; and implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which provides a fast track to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

The influence of ABVP is also being felt throughout academia, Meghwanshi said, from ending the careers of university administrators they don’t like to the alignment of national educational policies to achieve their ideological goals.

In August, ABVP members accused, Rajesh Singh, the vice chancellor of Deen Dayal Upadhyay University in Gorakhpur of corruption, forcing him to resign. Videos surfaced showing Singh being assaulted by students reportedly associated with ABVP.

ABVP has also been a vocal proponent of the National Education Policy – a thorough revamp of the country’s curriculum from elementary schools to postsecondary education. The official aim of this policy is to build a curriculum rooted in the “Indian ethos” that would make India a superpower by 2030.

“ [ABVP] is having a negative impact, and such laws and policies are being made that are changing the education policy of India,” Meghwanshi said. “Instead of scientific thinking, superstitions and religious rituals are being included in the curriculum.”

In April, the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a government agency under the federal education ministry, issued major revisions to the textbooks used by millions of students that required them to omit crucial scientific concepts such as Darwin’s theory of evolution and the periodic table. And in some BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Harayana, the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s holy texts, is being taught as part of the curriculum.