The rise of Hindu nationalism in historical perspective

ABSTRACT The article traces the rise of Hindu nationalism and its rise to power. It identifies three major variables responsible for Hindu nationalism’s rise and success. First, British historiography that made the Hindu-Muslim animosity the centerpiece for historical analysis in order to justify British rule coupled with a deliberate policy of divide and rule that widened the chasm between the two communities. Second, the writings of Savarkar and other ideologues such as Golwalkar that presented this dichotomy starkly and painted the Indian Muslim as the quintessential “other” thus arguing that Hindus alone were the real owners of the land and Muslims were interlopers. Third, and possibly the most important, the partition of the country in 1947 that hived away the Muslim majority areas from India thus rendering Indian Muslims demographically and politically marginal if not irrelevant in independent India thus paving the way for the eventual capture of power by Hindu nationalists.