We live in an age when most Muslims take pride in singing Saare Jahan Se Achcha, penned by Muhammad Iqbal. Many though have forgotten that the same poet-philosopher called Ram as Imam-e-Hind. The Hindutva forces, meanwhile, have forgotten the unifying Saare Jahan Se Achcha in their pursuit of divisive nationalism. Their exclusionary politics stems from a mindset of self-limiting segregation: a world of ‘we’ and ‘they’, a world where a Muslim man is lynched for refusing to say ‘Vande Mataram’. Of Saffron Flags and Skullcaps attempts to trace the growth of the Hindutva ideology from the time of V.D. Savarkar and M.S. Golwalkar to the contemporary age, and how it precedes any talk of Muslim appeasement. Faced with these existential challenges, the Muslim community is involved in simultaneous churning within where the words of Islamic scholar and teacher Farhat Hashmi are bringing about a silent change at the grassroots level. Amidst all the challenges, the idea of India, often challenged, continues to show the way to a nation looking for direction.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Dr Nirmala Lakshman Preface Acknowledgements PART 1: HINDUTVA The Idea of a Hindu Nation Hindutva and Hindu Nationalism Hindutva Precedes Appeasement URA: Hindutva and Hind Swaraj Hindutva and Women Hindutva and Dalits Rediscovering National Icons Integrating Sardar Patel Appropriating Bhagat Singh Co-opting Dr Ambedkar Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay: Not Quite an Icon Madan Mohan Malaviya: Early Hindu Nationalist Understanding RSS and Fringe Elements RSS and Nationalism RSS and the Tricolour The Myth of the Holy Cow Cow Protection Movement Gaurakshini Samitis Turn Senas Raksha Dals, Then and Now Majoritarianism and Nationalism Nation from the Historical Lens M S Golwalkar and Irfan Habib Conflict and Conciliation: Bipan Chandra’s World Babur Nama Gopal Gandhi’s Dara Shukoh Akbar as the New Age Aurangzeb Revisiting Aurangzeb PART 2: MUSLIM IDENTITY Being Muslim I Am the ‘Other’ The Other as the New Normal The First Muslim Extraordinary Tales of Muslim Women Not Easy Being a Muslim Muslims in Indian Cities Muslims of Delhi and Jammu Jamaat and Religion Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind A Muslim Leader Against Partition Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Tablighi Jamaat Sufism: Is It Islam? Aslam Parvaiz: One-man Movement Jihad and Ijtihad Fatwa on Terrorism Islam and Practices Triple Talaq and Khula Women’s Right to Divorce A Woman Leads Friday Prayers Muslim Women and Masjid Night of the New Moon Madrasas and Farhat Hashmi Conversion and Reconversion Not Being the Other Noor Zaheer’s Heresy on Hearsay Of Peace and War A Mockery of Satire PART 3: THE IDEA OF INDIA Everybody an Immigrant Innocent Acquitted, but How? Once Framed for Terrorism, Now a Symbol of Nationalism A Humanist Despite Being Called a Terrorist Hashimpura: Chak De! India Sir Mohammed Iqbal Rearming Hinduism Reality of Conversions Uniform Civil Code Age-old Glue: Commonalities in Faith India for Indians References