Few incidents have rocked independent India as severely as the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992. In the months that followed came communal riots unparalleled since the Partition of the country in 1947. This pioneering volume brings together experiences, voices, analyses, and diverse viewpoints that capture the complexity and intensity of the developments leading up to and following the destruction of that mosque. The contributors assert that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) significantly shifted India"s political agenda beginning in the mid-1980s by means of manipulation of real and perceived conflicts between Hindus (whom the BJP claims to represent) and Muslims (whom the BJP categorizes as enemies of Hinduism and Indian nationalism). Representing seven disciplines, the contributors vividly demonstrate that communal violence in India is based on imagined fears, which are constructed by a regressive political process. They explain the occurrence of the violence and the broader forces that have shaped the rise of the BJP.