Introduction
Since its inception in 1925, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-driven ‘Hindutva’ ideology has gone through a vigorous change over the past century. The organization started with strong cultural and nationalistic zeal and fervor focusing on the religious aspects of Hinduism and Pan Hinduism. As the affiliates of the mother organization grew and expanded over the decades, the priorities and strategies of the organization took a clear and dramatic shift. The making of Bharatiya Janata Party—BJP, the political affiliate of RSS, is what managed to influence the Sangh Parivar in a way that political and economic route became the most suited one to impose the Sangh’s agenda overriding its religious and cultural outlook.
This political conviction that has managed to gain an extremely strong significance and prominence in the Indian state in the recent years has gone through a distinct evolution. The decades-long evolution in the priorities of RSS and its affiliates has given way to a new and evolved form of ‘Hindutva’ that may be called ‘Hindutva 2.0’.
