subordinates the lives and livelihoods of adivasis
(indigenous tribal peoples), Dalits (economically
disadvantaged, former “untouchable” castes), and
the poor to higher-caste Hindus. In general,
Hindutva is not sympathetic to the historical
and present struggles for the human rights of
spiritually and politically distinct groups, such
as tribal groups, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, as
these groups are understood to be antinational
and anti-Hindu.
Hindutva’s tenets were first described by V. D.
Savarkar in his text Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?,
published in 1922. Hindutva’s agenda is carried
out by various groups, including the SHIV SENA
and the Sangh Parivar, a network of organizations.
The Sangh’s major parties are Rashtriya Swayam-
sevak Sangh (RSS); National Volunteer Corps,
formed in 1925, which provides social service
and militant training; Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP); World Hindu Council, formed in 1964,
which frames the Sangh’s cultural and religious
agenda and works to spread the Hindu nationalist
agenda on an international level; and the Bajrang
Dal, the militant youth group. Hindu national-
ist political parties took various forms through
the 20th century, and the BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
(BJP), “Indian People’s Party,” created in 1980, is
the most recent incarnation of the Sangh’s politi-
cal wing. While the BJP advocates a clear Hindu
supremacist agenda, other political parties also
empathize with and support “soft” Hindutva,
which contains certain aspects of Hindutva that
shun violence. The Sangh also operates through a
vast network of development groups and service
and education organizations, such as Ekal Vidya-
layas, Sewa Bharti, Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti,
and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams.
The rise of Hindu nationalism can be traced
to anticolonial movements during the late 19th
century, when Hindus mobilized to fight British
rule. Some of these movements protected the
privileges and rights of the Hindu middle and
upper classes against the struggles for equal rights
of other minorities and lower-class and tribal
peoples. Scholarly analysis shows that Hindutva
drew upon the ethnic and cultural nationalisms
of Germany and Italy in the early 20th century,
to promote physical training conducted in cells
called shakhas and ideological training that linked
“Hindu pride” to the subjugation of perceived
enemies, such as the Christians and Muslims. The
rise of Hindu nationalism is thus framed by the
inequalities and struggles in India’s history.
When India and Pakistan became independent
nations in August 1947, divided along religious
differences, widespread violence between and
within religious communities accompanied the
massive displacement of people across newly
drawn national borders. Large groups of Muslims
moved into Pakistan (a self-proclaimed Islamic
state), and non-Muslims moved into India (a self-
proclaimed secular state). Official estimates put
the displacement at about 12 million and deaths
at several million. More than 75,000 women were
abducted and raped by members of their own or
other communities. The forms of violence that
struck within and across religious lines during
the Partition still fill the social memory of India
and provide rationale for mutual resentment and
anger between Hindus and Muslims.
On January 30, 1948, Nathuram Godse, a
former member of the RSS, shot and killed M. K.
GANDHI. At the time, Hindu nationalists expressed
intense dissatisfaction with what they termed
Gandhi’s “appeasement” of minorities, especially
Muslims. Though Godse was not an official mem-
ber of the RSS at the time, the RSS was banned for
approximately a year. The language of “minority
appeasement” continues to be a mobilizing rheto-
ric for Hindu nationalism.
In 1984, with Indira Gandhi’s assassination
as a trigger, Sikh communities were targeted by
large-scale violence, concentrated in Delhi. It is
widely accepted that the violence was largely the
responsibility of Hindutva, abetted by the Con-
gress government’s complicity in not prosecuting
instigators. In 1992, leaders of the BJP, VHP, and
RSS incited Hindu nationalist crowds to destroyK 186 Hindu nationalism