An inquiry into the causes and consequences of the saffron whirlwind that swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 Assembly election

This chapter examines the factor that led to the massive electoral victory of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2017 Assembly election. This victory, it is argued, should be seen more as a continuum of the Hindu Right mobilisation since the 1930s than any abrupt electoral rise in 2014 or 2017. It sheds lights on the possible consequences for minority rights owing to the rise of extreme variety of Hindutva under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath.