ABSTRACT
The increased centrality of women and their conscious political mobilisation as part of the Hindutva project was an important element that made the overall situation fraught with tension. The invisibility of Muslims in Indian social science was not new, and as far back as the early 1970s, when most studies focused on Hindu castes and communities, Imtiaz Ahmad sharply drew attention to this lacuna in empirical work on Muslims. This chapter looks at the confluence of three processes: communalism, identity and gender. Communalism and communal violence directed at Muslims implicitly involves the question of the relations between Hindus and Muslims. The series of communal riots during the last three decades and more continue to plague the city; in these riots it is primarily Muslims who are the targets and the victims. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
