RESTORING HARMONY TO GUJARAT: PEACE BUILDING AFTER THE 2002 RIOTS

Both parties centered on the ideology of V.D. Savarkar, whose book, Hindutva Who is a Hindu? ( 1923) called for recognizing Hinduism as both a race and a religion, essentially developing an "indigenous race" theory modeled on German nationalism and Aryan mythography.3 In order to celebrate the vitality and strength of a twice colonized nation, the Sangh emphasized physical fitness, martial arts and paramilitary training. The Sangh Parivar organizations consider their enemies to be a Indian followers of foreign religions (Islam and Christianity), b Communists and their sympathizers, c westernized members of the Indian intelligentsia committed to secularism, and d foreign powers.6 This sort of thinking has polarized Indian society, particularly in the north, pitting upper-caste and middle-class Hindus against Muslims, untouchables, converts to Islam and Christianity, and any who subscribe to "the false dogma of secularism."