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THE 'HINDUTVA PROJECT' 30 YEARS ON

30 years ago, Indian politics took a drastic turn when Hindutva groups demolished the Babri Mosque.

The Hindutva claim over Babri Mosque remains as divisive and politically contentious as it has been for the past 30 years since it was demolished by Hindutva groups.

December 6 was the day when the Hindutva project was launched on the political scene of the country, the destruction of the Babri Mosque changed Indian politics and Indian Muslim identity forever.

Hindutva glorify December 6th as an exciting turning point in India's public discourse where the Hindu supremacists started shaping society and life of minority communities.

That time the Congress government also banned two marginal Muslim groups.

The demolition of Babri Mosque that disproportionally attracted many Hindus towards Hindutva ideology, especially the upper cast and the urban middle class those with college degrees. And today, these segments remain the core of BJP’s electoral base.

The communal violence that cultivated after the demolition, over the decades, has deepened spatial and social segregation of communities in clearly separated neighborhoods.

Another major shift was the "alternative facts", and the “myth-making” that had developed in Hindutva circles for decades was started accepting as a legitimate form of correct history.

Ajay Singh Bisth, then a 20-year-old mathematics student at Garhwal University in 1992 and not yet Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

It is the result of the combined energy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh Parivar (refer to Hindutva groups as a family). Both were inspired by December 6, which redefined the politics of social identity – religion supplanting caste as the primary measure.

The above photo from five years ago was a grim reminder of the incident that changed the Indian politics, but today it's even impossible to show something like this in public.

It is also an important event that changed the image of Indian National Congress forever.

Along with Muslims, the Congress Party is also suffering the burns of the Babri Mosque policy played out by its leaders. Had Rajiv Gandhi not allowed idols to be installed in the closed mosque. If PV Narsimha Rao had not provided security for the Hindutva meeting that drafted the Babri mosque attack plan, things would have turned out differently for both the Muslims and the Congress.

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Source:  DW    |    The Wire    |   Wikipedia

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