In A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth writes with affection of a placid India‘s first general election in 1951, and the egalitarian spirit it momentarily bestowed on an electorate deeply riven by class and caste: “the great washed and unwashed public, sceptical and gullible”, but all “endowed with universal adult suffrage”.

(Reuters) – India deployed troops in Assam on Saturday after 31 Muslims were gunned down in three days of what police said were attacks by tribal militants who resent the presence of immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Further to the previous detailed Loonwatch article about Narendra Modi and the rise of India’s neo-fascist Far-Right, some more facts have surfaced. Readers may be particularly interested in the following.

(Times of India)

RAJKOT: wan’s (VHP) president Pravin Togadia sent temperatures soaring in Bhavnagar on Saturday evening with a hate speech that targeted Muslims for buying properties in Hindu areas.

India’s General Election starts in April, with the results in May. Narendra Modi, the man holding a machete in the picture at the top of this article, is currently predicted to become India’s next Prime Minister.

Richard Eaton is the Wikipedia, the Google and, many would argue, the last word on medieval and Islamic history in India. His bibliography is too vast to list, but the vast repertoire includes Islamic History As Global History, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204 -1760 and Social History of the Deccan, 1300 -1761: Eight Indian Lives.

Last November, we posted what turned out to be a very popular article about Abdul Hadi Palazzi’s apparent conversion to Hinduism. For years he enjoyed notoriety for his novel stance on Zionism. Palazzi claimed to be a Muslim and an Islamic scholar.

Delhi–The Hindu Hriday Samrat (“Emperor of Hindu Hearts”) of the Shiva Sena has surely perishedbut the divisive politics of regional and religious chauvinism which he bred and propounded for decades will undoubtedly be carried forth by the Shiv Sainiks for years to come.

The anti-Muslim violence that erupted in Uttar Pradesh the past few days was instigated by Hindutva activists who forwarded a video they claimed showed Muslims lynching two Hindu men, in fact the video was from Pakistan and had nothing to do with Hindus. T

“Since the 1980’s, a shadow has darkened India’s polity and threatened the fundamentals of its social and political existence. This is the Hindutva movement, organized, led and driven by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its front organizations – the Sangh Parivar.”