Shadow Armies: Fringe Organizations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s steady advance over the last three decades – from two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 to 282 in 2014 – has been accompanied by the mushrooming of organizations that stir up trouble, polarize communities, incite violence and even kill – all in the name of Hindutva.
There has been little to no insight into the structure of these organizations and their evolutions. Dhirendra K. Jha investigates and profiles eight such organizations across India, from Sanatan Sanstha, whose members have been charged with the brutal murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, to Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini.