Various religious traditions have shared rather harmoniously the geopolitical space of South Asia since time immemorial. The situation is rather different in 2014 and, to a certain extend, reflect the more globalised context of the day. This paper aims at looking at particular factors that contributed to the rise and strengthening of the notion of hindutva –an integrist orientation of Hinduism. It first looks at certain practices by Indian colonial administration, further dividing the clivage between Hindus and Muslims, and moves to the emergence of the concept of hindutva at the end of the 1800s in order to mobilise Hindus against British rule. More recent events, such as the destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the present bill against conversion and the ghar wapsi movement will also be discussed.
