Bhanwar Meghwanshi, who is a writer and a social and political activist, was once a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He was a self-described “complete bhakt” with dreams of becoming a pracharak (preacher) till he realised that the RSS was as casteist as the rest of Hindu and Indian society. Meghwanshi who is a Dalit is now a strong opponent of the RSS and its divisive ideology. He describes his journey in this episode of Saffron Siege with Harsh Mander.

Meghwanshi talks about how the RSS and the BJP use oppressed communities, such as the Dalits, to gain power through politics and to do their dirtiest communal work, such as being on the frontlines of communal violence. He says that the time has come for oppressed communities to unite against exploitation, especially by upper caste groups and India’s right wing ecosystem.

🎧 You can watch the full episode with subtitles on YouTube: https://youtu.be/S7uXcpQrnkQ

This episode is part of Season Two of Partitions of the Heart. In this season, Harsh Mander speaks to leading scholars and observers who have studied the RSS closely. Together, they examine its roots and core principles, its Hindutva agenda, and its corrosive role in India’s public and social life across a century.

“Saffron Siege” runs from 17 September to 3 December 2025, with a new episode releasing every Wednesday. Himal’s podcasts are available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Production: Imaad ul Hasan, Lydia Smith, Ritika Chauhan, Nayantara Narayanan

Support Himal Podcasts and Himal's independent journalism for just USD 5 per month: https://payhere.lk/pay/oee1bdaf1

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

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The trajectory of the RSS in south India is very different from its history and progress in the north and northeast of the country. While coastal Karnataka was the landing ground of the Sangh in the south as far back as the 1950s, Hindutva found little traction in large parts of the south till the last decade when Narendra Modi and his BJP have been in national power. The biggest resistance to the RSS and Hindutva has been in Tamil Nadu.

In this episode, musician and socio-political commentator T M Krishna speaks to Harsh Mander about Tamil Nadu’s long history of social movements that has led to this resistance. They examine how the state’s linguistic and faith traditions have stood as a bulwark against the RSS’s attempts at homogenisation under a Hindu umbrella. Krishna points out the multiple streams of religious influence on arts in India, especially in music, and how the RSS has tried to deny this past in service of the ideological project. “Carnatic music is symbolic of something for the RSS. It is symbolic of that puritanical and cultural superiority… Homogenisation, or rather a linearisation, of that is convenient for them.”

You can watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cPIGBhmk4us

This episode is part of Season Two of Partitions of the Heart. In this season, Harsh Mander speaks to leading scholars and observers who have studied the RSS closely. Together, they examine its roots and core principles, its Hindutva agenda, and its corrosive role in India’s public and social life across a century.

“Saffron Siege” runs from 17 September to 3 December 2025, with a new episode releasing every Wednesday. Himal’s podcasts are available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Production: Imaad ul Hasan, Lydia Smith, Ritika Chauhan, Nayantara Narayanan

Support Himal Podcasts and Himal's independent journalism for just USD 5 per month: https://payhere.lk/pay/oee1bdaf1

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/

As the Spring Revolution approaches its fifth year, Ma Thida, one of Myanmar’s foremost activists and intellectuals, reflects on the country’s political trajectory leading up to and beyond the 2021 military coup – and the people’s enduring fight for democracy.

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the Burmese surgeon, award-winning writer and human-rights activist Ma Thida about her new book, A-Maze: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy, 2011-2023 (Balestier Press, May 2024). 

In February 2021, Myanmar’s junta staged a coup, ending a decade of fragile democratic transition and plunging the country back into military rule. What followed was the Spring Revolution – a nationwide movement, led above all by the country’s youth, which has continued to resist the junta through extraordinary courage and collective action.

The road to democracy in Myanmar has been nearly four decades long, beginning with the 1988 uprising. Ma Thida – one of Myanmar’s leading activists and intellectuals – has lived through every turn of that journey. In her new book, A-Maze, she traces how far Myanmar has come, how far it still has to go, and how the people’s struggle since the 2021 coup has both deepened and redefined the country’s quest for democracy.

The book looks at nearly three years of resistance and transformation, showing how the Spring Revolution isn’t just about ending military rule, but about breaking out of the larger “Maze” – the deep-rooted systems of control and inequality – and building together a new path toward a truly federal and democratic Myanmar.

This episode is now available on Youtube:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4EkNsOR7RzJYpxtG8VXM4D

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3JA9rpC

✨ Thank you for listening to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian. If you like this episode, please share widely, rate, review, subscribe and download the show on your favourite podcast apps.

✉️ Let’s keep the conversation going – please share your thoughts on the episode. Leave us a comment on Youtube or write to us at [email protected].

🙏🏼 To make conversations like this possible, we need the support of our listeners like you. Become a paying Himal Patron to support the Southasia Review of Books: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

📚 Sign up to receive the Southasia Review of Books newsletter for Himal’s spotlight on Southasian literature, our latest conversations, and more: https://bit.ly/southasia-review-of-books

How has the RSS and Hindutva propaganda worked over a century? Journalists and writers Akshaya Mukul and Kunal Purohit dive into the strategies and successes with Harsh Mander on the this episode of Saffron Siege.

Mukul examines the popularity Gita Press, which was founded in 1923 – two years before the RSS itself, and its many publications and how it insinuated itself into the consciousness of millions of Hindus. Purohit discusses the more recent phenomenon of Hindutva pop in which the internet has enabled young people in the smallest towns and villages to become Hindutva influencers regardless of education, access, gender or caste.

🎧 You can watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Kq6ffi92x5k

This episode is part of Season Two of Partitions of the Heart. In this season, Harsh Mander speaks to leading scholars and observers who have studied the RSS closely. Together, they examine its roots and core principles, its Hindutva agenda, and its corrosive role in India’s public and social life across a century.

“Saffron Siege” runs from 17 September to 3 December 2025, with a new episode releasing every Wednesday. Himal’s podcasts are available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Production: Imaad ul Hasan, Lydia Smith, Ritika Chauhan, Nayantara Narayanan

Support Himal Podcasts and Himal's independent journalism for just USD 5 per month: https://payhere.lk/pay/oee1bdaf1

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/

As the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup reaches its final week, veteran sports journalist Sharda Ugra examines the progress that women’s cricket in Southasia has made in recent years – especially since 2017, when the ICC televised the tournament, drawing in a wider audience and greater interest – as well as persistent gaps shaping women’s cricket today.

In this episode of State of Southasia, Ugra reflects on the growth in performance and professionalism across India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, while also pointing to the uneven marketing, sponsorship, and administrative support that continue to hold the game back. Despite rising viewership and a handful of breakout stars, she notes that the sport still fights for the kind of institutional investment and fan enthusiasm long guaranteed to the men’s side.

Amid the challenges, there are clear signs of change – from the Women’s Premier League opening new pathways for talent to the growing visibility of women in the sport. “One of the other really good things about this World Cup has been the presence of women everywhere,” Ugra says. “You see them – they're umpires, they're match referees, they’re officials, they’re in the commentary panel. It becomes normal for women to be in this space, which is a great thing.”

You can also listen to this episode on:

🎧 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1E6nW76WOD0

🎧 Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3Wsiax4

Episode notes:

Sharda Ugra’s recommendations:

- She Dared: Women in Indian Sport – Abhishek Dubey and Sanjeeb Mukherjea (non-fiction)

- Unveiling Jazba: A History of Pakistan Women’s Cricket – Aayush Puthran (non-fiction)

- The Fire Burns Blue: A History of Women's Cricket in India – Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik (non-fiction)

- Free Hit – Suprita Das (non-fiction)

Further reading from Himal’s archives:A sports journalist’s journey alongside the rise of Sri Lankan women’s cricket

The 2025 Women’s World Cup could be India’s biggest cricketing moment in over 50 years

Beyond the boundary: When a pandemic takes hold, even cricket knows when to stop buying its own hype

The costly spectacle of cricket: What COVID-19 reveals about the spectacle of cricket and inequality within the cricket fraternity

Changing the rules: The Supreme Court verdict on the Lodha committee report heralds radical shift in Indian cricket administration

Cricketing rivalry with India can transform Australia’s view of Southasia – and of itself

Jasprit Bumrah embodies a better kind of Indian cricketer – and a better India

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/

Political scientists Tariq Thachil and Kamal Nayan Choubey speak to Harsh Mander about how the RSS and its offshoots have made inroads into and are influencing tribal and Adivasi society. They discuss the role of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Ekal Vidyalayas in co-opting tribal communities into broader Hindu society and their stated goals of countering Christian missionaries and alleged conversion.

You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-un2dGnUbs8

This episode is part of Season Two of Partitions of the Heart. In this season, Harsh Mander speaks to leading scholars and observers who have studied the RSS closely. Together, they examine its roots and core principles, its Hindutva agenda, and its corrosive role in India’s public and social life across a century.

“Saffron Siege” runs from 17 September to 3 December 2025, with a new episode releasing every Wednesday. Himal’s podcasts are available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Production: Imaad ul Hasan, Ayushi Malik, Lydia Smith, Ritika Chauhan, Nayantara Narayanan

Support Himal Podcasts and Himal's independent journalism for just USD 5 per month: https://payhere.lk/pay/oee1bdaf1

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/

The Mumbai based author Amrita Mahale discusses her novel ‘Real Life’ – delving into female friendship, obsession, Artificial Intelligence, and what it means to live freely in a world of control: https://www.himalmag.com/podcast/amrita-mahale-himalaya-literary-mystery-novel

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the Mumbai-based author Amrita Mahale about her new novel, Real Life (Penguin India, July 2025).

In Amrita Mahale latest novel Real Life, the wildlife biologist Tara disappears from a remote Himalayan valley, sending her best friend Mansi on a search to retrace her steps. Meanwhile, the prime suspect, Bhaskar, unravels a disturbing labyrinth of obsession and half-truths. 

Against a backdrop where technology, nature, caste, class, and the pursuit of freedom collide, Mahale’s novel is a haunting exploration of love, loss, and friendship. In a world constantly pushing for conformity, Real Life is a story about the many ways women vanish – from the world, and sometimes from themselves.

This episode is now available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/0gZTeTOq3pIApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4njFHLASpotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3USk3qKwYcevOEXPEMLXsl

✨Thank you for listening to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian. If you like this episode, please share widely, rate, review, subscribe and download the show on your favourite podcast apps.

✉️Let’s keep the conversation going – please share your thoughts on the episode. Leave us a comment on Youtube or write to us at [email protected].

🙏🏼 To make conversations like this possible, we need the support of our listeners like you. Become a paying Himal Patron to support the Southasia Review of Books: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

📚 Sign up to receive the Southasia Review of Books newsletter for Himal’s spotlight on Southasian literature, our latest conversations, and more: https://bit.ly/southasia-review-of-books

On 18 September, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu ratified a new media law aimed at streamlining media regulation and seeking to curb disinformation. The law allowed the creation of a new commission with extensive powers, including the ability to block news websites, suspend media outlets’ registrations, issue fines to journalists and criminalise vague offences such as spreading fake news.

There was a huge outcry in the country against the controversial bill that critics say could muzzle the media and stifle free speech. The journalists associations pledged to defy the bill, the main opposition party called for protests against it and a global press freedom group urged Muizzu to veto the legislation. Yet Muizzu’s government, which enjoys a supermajority, was able to push the bill through parliament.

In this episode of State of Southasia, Ahmed Naish, editor of the Maldives Independent, talks to Nayantara Narayanan about the provisions of concern in the new law, including the creation of a commission that will act as a “super regulator”, the code of ethics that might be instituted for media organisations to follow and the broad and vague language of the law that might alow the government to persecute critical media on flimsy grounds.

You can also listen to this episode on:

🎧 YouTube: https://youtu.be/h-3fKG2q7QI

🎧 Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/4nTrO7S

Episode notes:

Ahmed Naish’s recommendations:

- The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical Autocracy – JJ Robinson (non-fiction)

- Descent into Paradise – Daniel Bosley (non-fiction)

- The Island President - John Shenk (documentary film)

Further reading from Himal’s archives:

JJ Robinson on how Mohamed Muizzu’s Maldives is “a free-for-all kleptocracy”: State of Southasia #25

Youth protests take on the Maldives’s political culture after a woman’s fall

Interview: The Maldives makes a turn with new president Mohamed Muizzu

Strains between Malé and the atolls in the Maldives

The Maldives’ ruling party is fighting itself and the opposition in the race for president

Unpacking the Maldives’ Transitional Justice Act

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/

The feminist historian Tanika Sarkar speaks to Harsh Mander about the role of women in the #RSS, the organisation's view on gender and its reinforcement of patriarchy. Sarkar describes the creation of the RSS's women's wing, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, and how it evolved over the years. She also speaks about the women leaders have emerged in the Hindutva fold to gain strategic power in the RSS's project of hate.

You can watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ghjTuQco4vw

This episode is part of Season Two of Partitions of the Heart. In this season, Harsh Mander speaks to leading scholars and observers who have studied the RSS closely. Together, they examine its roots and core principles, its Hindutva agenda, and its corrosive role in India’s public and social life across a century.

“Saffron Siege” runs from 17 September to 3 December 2025, with a new episode releasing every Wednesday. Himal’s podcasts are available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Production: Imaad ul Hasan, Ayushi Malik, Lydia Smith, Ritika Chauhan, Nayantara Narayanan

Support Himal Podcasts and Himal's independent journalism for just USD 5 per month: https://payhere.lk/pay/oee1bdaf1

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/

In this writer Aakar Patel and journalist Rana Ayyub examine with Harsh Mander whether India under Narendra Modi has transformed into a Hindu Rashtra or and to what extent does India’s secular socialist democracy still endures.

You can watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/P3mb8QO9uDU

This episode is part of Season Two of Partitions of the Heart. In this season, Harsh Mander speaks to leading scholars and observers who have studied the RSS closely. Together, they examine its roots and core principles, its Hindutva agenda, and its corrosive role in India’s public and social life across a century.

“Saffron Siege” runs from 17 September to 3 December 2025, with a new episode releasing every Wednesday. Himal’s podcasts are available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Production: Imaad ul Hasan, Lydia Smith, Ritika Chauhan, Nayantara Narayanan

Support Himal Podcasts and Himal's independent journalism for just USD 5 per month: https://payhere.lk/pay/oee1bdaf1

Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice.

Read more: https://www.himalmag.com/

Support our independent journalism and become a Patron of Himal: https://www.himalmag.com/support-himal

Find us on:

https://twitter.com/Himalistan

https://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian

https://www.instagram.com/himalistan/