Secular

"Hindu nationalism," the "Sangh Parivar." the "Saffron brigade," "Hindutvavadi," and other such labels are used as "devil terms" to demonize the RSS and its affiliates, including the Bharatiya Janata Party. Arguments have been replaced by these epithets—verbal crutches for an increasingly lazy and shrill media. The fount of such epithet production is the left, liberal, English-speaking Indian intelligentsia. Joining in this Hindu and RSS-baiting are Western academics, the so-called "India experts" whose ruminations and fulminations largely give shape to Western perceptions of and policies towards India. In this two-volume treatise the author, a first generation Indian-American, analyzes the new turn in Indian politics and society, and the ramifications of a sustained vilification campaign against the RSS and its affiliates, as well as against Hindus and Hinduism. The author calls for a balanced and fair appraisal of the history, ideas, and actions of the Sangh Parivar, including the Bharatiya Janata Party. More importantly, he urges that the various other actors, both Indian and international, be called to account for making India the battlefield of religious, cultural, and social conflict.