ABSTRACT
The historiography around the question of communalism has come a long way and yet new questions have always been raised. Overt political discourse and state initiative towards positive discrimination have had their own impact in this process. The implementation of the Mandal recommendations saw its ramifications in the social sciences, and caste was brought to the forefront of scrutiny and analysis. It has been argued that the violence located within the fold of caste is central to the staging of right-wing Hindu political assertion. Dilip Menon has argued that the inner violence of Hinduism vis-à-vis the lower castes and Dalits is displaced outward against Muslims. Further, he makes a rather sweeping assertion that Dalits and Sudras have been seen as foot soldiers of militant Hindu identity for over a century (Menon 2006: 2). The claim needs to be looked at rather carefully to question whether such a generalized claim could be made across vast geographies. The point of transition in our understanding of the question would require looking into the various factors that could have affected particular positioning at certain junctures. Particularly in the context of western India there was a strong movement for civil and political rights for Dalits under Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Factors like shared living spaces by Dalits and Muslims in a city like Bombay make for a more nuanced history. It is in this context that the chapter tries to historically locate the politics of Hindu nationalism on one hand and radical Dalit politics by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on the other.
