Roughing It In Kalinga

Supposed BJD stormtroopers are set upon its loudest critics.

- Sandeep Sahu

The ‘official’ website lists its goals as promoting ‘leadership, volunteerism and a healthy lifestyle through sports and social interventions’. But, based on the evidence on the ground across Odisha, the Biju Yuva Vahini (BYV) has been dubbed a ‘rogue army’ of youth created by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with the 2019 election in mind.

Odisha saw an example of the BYV’s so-called ‘social intervention’ when Kharavela Swain, three-time former BJP MP from Balasore and president of the Utkal Bharat party and his supporters were assaulted by three youths while addressing a gathering at Kashipur in Rayagada district on November 25. Swain said his attackers were known BJD workers, while BJP general secretary Bhrugu Buxipatra linked them to the BYV, the nearly 3 lakh-strong ‘volunteer’ force created at the expense of the state exchequer by the Naveen Patnaik government in March 2018.