UP's anti-terror squad's outreach programme for radicalised youth is called Ghar Wapsi.
, or homecoming, a term coined by Sangh Parivar affiliates to describe effort to re-convert people who were once Hindus, has made its way into the Uttar Pradesh government's lexicon. But in the government, it relates to something entirely different; the Anti-Terror Squad's public outreach project to arrange counselling for radicalised youth before they take the first big step towards terrorism.
The project, announced on Wednesday, is grounded in the hope that the family of the radicalised youth sound out the police about their kin. "Often in such cases, people don't know what to do," the Uttar Pradesh Police said in the statement, outlining how they would proceed and promising that such youth would never be forced to become their informers or catch other terrorists.The police would rope in religious leaders, friends and family to motivate them. The counselling sessions and interactions with the police are expected to last for about 12 months; initially the contact with the police would be very frequent but it would be tapered off over time. The de-radicalisation process, the statement said, would be considered complete once the youth settle down; either after getting a job or marriage. It would be treated as the person's
Ghar Wapsi.
The trigger for the programme was the detention of about 10 young men picked up on information that they had been radicalised. They had been, but there was nothing to indicate that they had yet violated the law. This is when the police started the first attempt to de-radicalise them.
This process is still on, said Asim Arun, Inspector General of the ATS, in Wednesday's statement.
The move comes against the backdrop of reports that said radicalised youth inspired by the ideology of ISIS had tried to carry out terror attacks or travelled abroad to join them. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament this month that about
50 radicalised youth had crossed over to the other side. The Union Home Ministry estimates a total of 80 youth have been radicalised by the ISIS propaganda through social media and Internet.
The attempt to reach out to radicalised youth is being made on the directions of the state government led by the 44-year-old Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who long before his surprise elevation to Uttar Pradesh's top chair, had built a reputation for himself as the mascot of the party's Hindutva hardliner.
As Chief Minister, the saffron-robed priest of eastern Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhnath temple has insisted that there were many
"misconceptions" about him due to his saffron robe. In an interview to the RSS-affiliated weekly Organiser, he reiterated that he was out to win the hearts of all sections of society.