How a century-old dream of Hindu empire came back to rule the present

For nearly a century, the Hindu Right has pursued a radical goal: Akhand Bharat—a greater India unified under Hindu rule and purged of Muslim influence. Born from the ashes of Gandhi’s assassination and nurtured by the RSS, a paramilitary force at the heart of Hindu nationalism, this vision has survived decades of suppression to reemerge stronger than ever. Today, under a government aligned with Hindu majoritarianism, the dream of a Hindu nation is no longer fringe—it’s national policy.

In The Assassin’s Ashes, investigative journalist Dhirendra K. Jha traces the rise of this movement, from its early calls for religious purity to its present-day reach across borders and into schools, laws, and foreign policy. Urgent and unflinching, this book reveals how anti-Muslim nationalism came to dominate the world’s largest democracy—and what that means for India’s future and the fragile region around it.