between RSS and 'religious Vishva Hindu Parishad and between 'hardliner' Advani and 'moderate' Vajpayee. This points towards two things. One, that the RSS, BJP, Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal belong to the same brotherhood; they are members of the same parivar with RSS as their parent. Second, this ambiguity or duplicity is not unintentional or spontaneous, but deliberately cultivated to established social control and perpetuate itself in power. This fixation with power, as the author forcefully puts it, has led the BJP to dilute its agenda for the time being. This strategy has pushed the controversial issues of Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Ayodhya outside the National Agenda for Governance, which the BJP adopted with its allies (p. 101). The author's critique of the RSS is built around the organisation's core trait, which according to him, is 'fascism'. Exclusionary nationalism based on cultural chauvinism that is intolerant towards those considered beyond the pale of the 'Hindu' nation is an integral part of the world-view of RSS. Moreover, propaganda built around specific myths and symbolisms, as also an overemphasis on particular notions of heroism (for instance, the myth of rashtrapurusha Rama), has a centrality in the RSS' sensibility. Fascist politics abhors democratic politics based on individual freedoms and as such the values of pluralism, tolerance and individualism, though it can take on the pretence of a democratic player in a democracy till the time it has established firm control over state institutions. It prioritises public over private as also the collective over individual in a homogenising project where a well orchestrated community is geared to a 'national' cause in highly centralised-hierarchised structures where decisions are taken top-down. Propaganda and indoctrination of the majority community go along with repression and terror of the minorities. The shishu mandirs and vidya bharatis and other cultural and educational fronts help in disseminating a fascist mindset among a wider public. This mindset is then reinforced by calculated acts of violence against Muslims and Christians. Moreover, the parivar's majoritarian politics uses the democratic state institutions as a vehicle for constituting a permanent-fixed majority, another clear indication of fascist tendencies. A crucial question that needs to be addressed in such a study as Noorani's is the broadening social base of the RSS and its front organisations. One cannot deny the existence of a positive receptivity to hindutva politics in India. Why is the RSS-BJP combine gaining strength? What are the factors that account for its growing support?