INTRODUCTION “Today we watch with horror as wave upon wave of right-wing fanaticism, fundamentalism, bigotry and misogyny engulf South Asia, and chauvinist forces make deep inroads into politics.”1 It is sobering, though not surprising, to note that these words were written by South Asian feminists in 1995. They observed political and social phenomena very similar to what we see today across Asia and indeed the world, with anti-democratic forces now capturing mainstream political power. They noted, then, that “...fundamentalist agendas are increasingly manipulating religious as well as ethnic and nationalist loyalties as a source of cultural legitimacy”,2 marking the demolition of the historic mosque, Babri Masjid, in India in 1992 – with violence and mass killing spilling out across the region – as a catalytic, historic event that transformed South Asian society and politics. Babri Masjid was demolished brick-by-brick by well-organized extremist, far-right Hindu supremacist (or “Hindutva3” - a political ideology characterized by the strategic deployment of Hinduism in the service of nationalism) groups, who used their bare hands, iron rods, hammers, and spades.4 These groups were organized by Indian far-right political groups such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its other affiliates, such as the Vishva Hindu Parishadh. In the communal violence that followed, around 2000 people were killed in India (mostly Muslim).5 Across South Asia, religious extremist groups and their supporters carried out violence, using the events of December 6th, 1992 (the day of the demolition) in the north of India to catalyze their own communal violence: in Pakistan and Bangladesh, both Muslim- 1 Kumari Jayawardena and Malathi de Alwis, “Introduction: Communalising Women’s Sexuality in South Asia,” in Embodied Violence: Communalising Women’s Sexuality in South Asia, ed. Kumari Jayawardena and Malathi de Alwis (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1996). 2 Ibid. 3 Arvind Sharma, “On the Difference Between Hinduism and Hindutva,” Association for Asian Studies, 2020, https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/on-the-difference-between-hinduism-and-hindutva/ 4 Krishna Pokharel and Paul Beckett, “Ayodhya, the Battle for India’s Soul: The Complete Story,” Wall Street Journal, 2012, https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-IRTB-17391 5 Al Jazeera, “Babri Mosque to Ram Temple: A Timeline from 1528 to 2024,” Al Jazeera, 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/22/babri-mosque-to-ram-temple-a-timeline-from-1528-to-2024 9