includes index and biblioraphy

Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation is a deconstruction of the fascinating tactics used by the Hindutva forces to politically mobilise Dalits. Based on orginal empirical data from extensive field work in UP and Bihar, the book documents how the Hindutva forces are adept at digging out the myths, memories and legends of Dalits castes that are popular at the local level and reinterpreting them in a Hinduised way. They project the heroes of these myths and popular folk narratrives either as brave Indian warriors who protected the Hindu religion and culture from the Muslim invaders of the medieval period, or as reincarnations of Lord Rama, or as to link the myths of these Dalit Castes with the unified Hindu meta-narrative. The author has also tried to deconstruct the making of the popular in the North Indian rural society and investigate the communal elements induced in it.