ABSTRACT
Hindu fundamentalist politics has long been a thorn in the lives of India’s religious minorities, Dalits1 and Adivasis,2 who together constitute about 40 per cent of the country’s total population. Historically stemming from the interests of high-caste Hindus, Hindu fundamentalist politics also has a fascist genealogy that can be traced to the Hindu Mahasabha (Great Council of Hindus), an organization founded in 1915 that opposed the Muslim League and aspired to establish a Hindu Rashtra or Hindu state. The fascist heritage of Hindu fundamentalist politics has been examined by scholars such as Cassolari (2000: 218-8).
