Editing Hindutva (section)

=== Upper casteism ===
When Prime Minister [[V. P. Singh]] launched the [[Mandal Commission]] to broaden [[Reservation in India|reservations]] in government and public university jobs to a significant portion of the [[Shudras]] who were officially branded the [[Other Backward Class]]es (OBC), the mouthpiece of the Hindutva organisation RSS, [[Organiser (magazine)|''Organiser'']] magazine, wrote of "an urgent need to build up moral and spiritual forces to counter any fallout from an expected Shudra revolution".<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=The farm laws are an assault on Shudra power|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/farmer-protests-caste-modi-shudra-obc|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=15 March 2021|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007223651/https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/farmer-protests-caste-modi-shudra-obc|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="IndianExpress7181746">{{Cite web|date=10 February 2021|title=Rise of Hindutva has enabled a counter-revolution against Mandal's gains|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hindu-nationalism-mandal-commission-upper-caste-politics-modi-govt-7181746/|website=The Indian Express|language=en|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=10 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210050201/https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hindu-nationalism-mandal-commission-upper-caste-politics-modi-govt-7181746/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to social scientist and economist [[Jean Drèze]], the Mandal Commission angered the [[Forward caste|upper castes]] and threatened to distance the OBCs, but the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|Babri Masjid's destruction]] and ensuing events helped to reduce this challenge and reunified Hindus on an [[Islamophobia|anti-Muslim]] stance. He further claims "The Hindutva project is a lifeboat for the upper castes in so far as it promises to restore the [[Brahminical Hinduism|Brahminical]] social order" and the potential enemies of this ideology is anybody whose acts or might hinder the process of restoring the Brahminic social order. Drèze further claims that although Hindutva is known as a majoritarian movement, it can be best expressed as an oppressive minority movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Drèze|first=Jean|date=14 February 2020|title=The Revolt of the Upper Castes|url=https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/44|journal=Caste: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion|language=en|publisher=[[Brandeis University]]|volume=1|issue=1|pages=229–236|doi=10.26812/caste.v1i1.44|issn=2639-4928|doi-access=free|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026075456/https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/44|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Jaffrelot, the Sangh Parivar organisations with their Hindutva ideology have strived to impose the belief structure of the upper caste Hindus.<ref name="IndianExpress7181746" /> According to Dalit rights activist and political theorist [[Kancha Ilaiah]], "Hindutva Is Nothing But Brahminism" and that only "Dalitisation can effectively counter the danger of Brahminical fascism disguised as Hindutva".<ref>{{Cite web|title='Hindutva Is Nothing But Brahminism'|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/hindutva-is-nothing-but-brahminism/215089|website=Outlookindia|date=3 February 2022|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102084628/https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/hindutva-is-nothing-but-brahminism/215089|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to sociologist Amritorupa Sen, the privileges of the upper caste and especially Brahmins have become invisible. There has been a cultural norm that Brahmins take care of the lower castes out of a moral responsibility but also out of human kindness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sen |first=Amritorupa |date=2022-06-29 |title=The surviving power of Brahmin privilege |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00113921221105915 |journal=Current Sociology |volume=72 |issue=5 |language=en |pages=834–852 |doi=10.1177/00113921221105915 |s2cid=250151238 |issn=0011-3921 |access-date=8 May 2023 |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509191903/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00113921221105915 |url-status=live }}</ref>