H-Pop: the secretive world of Hindutva pop stars
Kunal Purohit
Harper Collins
Rs.499
Pages 306

This book draws us into the world of the modern propaganda machine that the Sangh Parivar has nearly perfected for the new Internet age

A silent, hidden campaign master-minded by Hindutva ideologues and conducted by social media entertainers could well prove a game changer in General Election 2024 scheduled for this summer.

According to Kunal Purohit, Hindutva or H-Pop, is making waves in the Hindi heartland and BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) states of India. Its popularity is narrated in his revealing book H-Pop, The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars. The author draws us into the world of the modern propaganda machine that the BJP and RSS parivar have nearly perfected for the new Internet age.

Flashing across millions of mobiles, TV screens, mofussil kavi sammelans and Hindi language publications, this below-the-radar campaign spews hate and venom against minorities and actual and perceived rivals.

Kunal Purohit is an independent award-winning investigative journalist who has been writing on development, politics, inequality and gender issues for over two decades. His discovery of the Sangh Parivar’s closed world H-Pop propaganda machine was accidental. In 2017, a Muslim youth was lynched for marrying a Hindu girl in small town Gumla, UP.

Thus began a five-year investigative journey into the H-Pop world of BIMARU India. Through “this work of courage” (Ramachandra Guha), he has unmasked the Hindu supremacy campaign by profiling three H-Pop stars — Kavi Singh, Kamal Agney and Sandeep Deo — and assessing their huge impact upon the ill-educated masses of hinterland India.

The book begins with a detailed profile of Kavi Singh, an attractive woman in her early twenties with an enchanting voice, stylish costumery and brilliant skill of singing songs with vitriolic lyrics which she labels as patriotic. Her songs and videos are broadcast on every social media, music and audio-visual channel — YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Gaana, Saavn, Hungama — throughout the country. In just four years, she has vocalised over 200 songs on almost every major talking point of the Hindutva agenda. From Article 370 to Ayodhya to Pulwama to love-jihad, her lilting melodies and videos are streamed non-stop to millions of viewers.

Besides the world of pop music, Purohit takes us deep into the heartland, smaller cities, mofussil towns and villages, where kavi sammelans are popular entertainment. At a sammelan organised by Hindutva nationalist Yati Narsinghanand, who has expressed intent to mobilise a religious army of Hindus to fight for an Islam-free India, he finds heavily garlanded Kamal Agney. In a rousing speech on Gandhi and Godse, Kamal Agney belittles the Congress legacy of Nehru and the Mahatma and ends the lecture with a poem:

“Nathu had had enough of all this/He could take no more/He went to Gandhi’s prayer meeting to bid his final adieu, and pumped a bullet so hard, that Gandhi finally remembered Lord Ram/Had Godse not pumped that bullet into Gandhi/Every Hindu would have been praying at Medina and Mecca today.”

Sandeep Deo, the third H-Pop exponent profiled in this deep investigation of the H-Pop phenomenon, is a multi-faceted, multi-talented devout follower of Hinduism and sanatan dharma. His mission is to preserve the purity and sanctity of Hinduism by eliminating all forces, which he describes as panchmakkar (‘five mosquitoes’) by opposing them. According to him, Christians (masihawaadis), Muslims (mohammadwaadis), secular liberals, human rights activists (marxwaadis) and macaulaywaadis, have westernised Indian education and must be “destroyed”.

To attain this objective of destroying panchmakkars and saving Hinduism, Hindu youth should be trained in bhonsalas or military camps. He regards the BJP and Sangh Parivar as vehicles for sanctifying Hinduism. On his YouTube channel ‘India Speaks Daily’, which at one time had a following of 3.5 million viewers, he solicits support for Hindutva and spits venom at all panchmakkars.

He is also founder of a Hindi language publishing house, Kapot, which publishes and distributes over 2,200 books on Hindutva propaganda. Purohit’s brief biography of Sandeep Deo — his love-hate relationship with PM Modi, his affinity to Yogi Adityanath’s brand of Hindutva, his PIL against RSS Chief Bhagwat, fall from grace within the Sangh Parivar, and his joining the Ikkjut Jammu (United Jammu) for the formation of a Hindu Jammu state, is recounted in engrossing detail.

This book has been widely appreciated. H-Pop “is penetrating the pillars of India’s popular culture”, says writer/journalist Christophe Jaffrelot. Adds Aakar Patel: “This book shows us the faces and voices of those on the frontline of the war this nation is waging against itself”. “Based on solid ground reporting, this eye-opening book will awaken the reader to a new India that is being divided even by music, poetry and books,” opines TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai.

This narrative reveals a grim future for those who believe that secularism and egalitarianism have deep and ineradicable roots in Indian terra firma. Prolonged failure to provide good quality education in the neglected hinterland of the country, has produced a huge population of ill-educated citizens susceptible to the crude anti-minorities populism which is being developed into a fine art by unchecked practitioners of H-Pop.

Anil Thakore