People imagine their political enemies to be disingenuous and devious. Which is why some people argue Hindutva proponents just want to propogate upper caste hegemony and their professed ideology is a cover. But this is not how human beings function. There is of course a strong

nexus between Hindutva and upper caste dominance, and upper castes form most of the Hindutva ideologues. But most people actually do believe in the ideology they preach, and rationalise it in their heads. They are not simply doing it for ulterior ends, to maintain their group

dominance or something, although that might be one of the outcomes, and not entirely conincidentally. If you want to understand Hindutva, you should at least try to read what their proponents say, in their own words, and not just texts about them.

Hindutva, in its essence, just means that India is essentially a Hindu nation, and that Hindus should unite and cleanse the nation of foreign influences. There is nothing in this that can't be believed by people of backward castes, and we of course do see a large section of

backward castes subscribing to this notion of Hindutva and voting for the BJP.

The defensive explanation proferred for this- that backward castes are somehow fooled or misled, is not just unconvincing, but also pretty patronizing. It is as if only upper castes are capable of

thinking through and holding on to ideology, and backward castes are just following in the manner of zombies. The backward caste Hindutvadis as hooddwinked sheep is a natural corollary to seeing the upper castes Hindutvadis as devious and disingenuous. Maybe this argument has

some strategic value, but it certainly does not seem to have much empirical value, and betrays a lack of understanding of how human beings think, rationalise and operate. But one of the most problematic aspect of this argument is that in trying to absolve backward caste Hindutva

proponents of responsibility for their beliefs, it strips them of human agency, of being denied the faculties of choosing their own moral values. The only people not responsible for their beliefs are children, which is why such arguments are always infantilizing.

Anyway, the point is that in order to really resist Hindutva, you have to first acknowledge the extent to which it has spread, & imbibed quite willingly by a large section of the population, though the extents might vary. Denial might be comfortable, but it only serves to obscure