What's to be done about Hindutva

Book review of 'Hindutva Rising'

Hindutva Rising   

Achin Vanaik

Tulika Books 

458 pages; Rs 1,200

First the trivia: This book – released last month – has been timed to preface discussions to mark the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, an event of cataclysmic proportions and in which much of contemporary India’s political discourse originates. Secondly, the book is a reworking or revisitation of the author's previous 1997 work — The Furies of Hindu Communalism, written five years after the demolition. Back then, the political forces that grew electorally through participation in the Ram Janambhoomi agitation were still considered transitory. This