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Books

H-Pop H-POP: THE SECRETIVE WORLD follower of Hinduism and
sanatan dharma. His
phenomenon OF HINDUTVA POP STARS mission is to preserve
Kunal Purohit
the purity and sanctity of
HARPER COLLINS Hinduism by eliminat-
SILENT, hid- Rs.499 Pages 306 ing all forces, which he
den campaign describes as panchmak-
A master-minded kar (‘five mosquitoes’) by
by Hindutva ideologues opposing them. Accord-
and conducted by social Thus began a five-year ing to him, Christians
media entertainers could investigative journey This book draws us (masihawaadis), Muslims
well prove a game changer into the H-Pop world of into the world of the (mohammadwaadis),
in General Election 2024 BIMARU India. Through modern propaganda secular liberals, human
scheduled for this sum- “this work of courage” machine that the rights activists (marxwaa-
mer. (Ramachandra Guha), he sangh parivar has dis) and macaulaywaadis,
According to Kunal has unmasked the Hindu nearly perfected for have westernised Indian
Purohit, Hindutva or H- supremacy campaign by the new Internet age education and must be
Pop, is making waves in profiling three H-Pop “destroyed”.
the Hindi heartland and stars — Kavi Singh, Kamal To attain this objective
BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Agney and Sandeep Deo — kavi sammelans are of destroying panchmak-
Pradesh, Rajasthan and and assessing their huge popular entertainment. kars and saving Hindu-
Uttar Pradesh) states of impact upon the ill-edu- At a sammelan organised ism, Hindu youth should
India. Its popularity is cated masses of hinterland by Hindutva nationalist be trained in bhonsalas
narrated in his revealing India. Yati Narsinghanand, who or military camps. He
book H-Pop, The Secretive The book begins with has expressed intent to regards the BJP and sangh
World of Hindutva Pop a detailed profile of Kavi mobilise a religious army parivar as vehicles for
Stars. The author draws us Singh, an attractive wom- of Hindus to fight for an sanctifying Hinduism.
into the world of the mod- an in her early twenties Islam-free India, he finds On his YouTube channel
ern propaganda machine with an enchanting voice, heavily garlanded Kamal ‘India Speaks Daily’, which
that the BJP and RSS pari- stylish costumery and bril- Agney. In a rousing speech at one time had a follow-
var have nearly perfected liant skill of singing songs on Gandhi and Godse, ing of 3.5 million viewers,
for the new Internet age. with vitriolic lyrics which Kamal Agney belittles the he solicits support for
Flashing across millions she labels as patriotic. Congress legacy of Nehru Hindutva and spits venom
of mobiles, TV screens, Her songs and videos are and the Mahatma and at all panchmakkars.
mofussil kavi sammelans broadcast on every social ends the lecture with a He is also founder of a
and Hindi language media, music and audio- poem: Hindi language publishing
publications, this below- visual channel — YouTube, “Nathu had had enough house, Kapot, which pub-
the-radar campaign spews Spotify, Apple Music, of all this/He could take lishes and distributes over
hate and venom against Gaana, Saavn, Hungama no more/He went to 2,200 books on Hindutva
minorities and actual and — throughout the coun- Gandhi’s prayer meet- propaganda. Purohit’s
perceived rivals. try. In just four years, she ing to bid his final adieu, brief biography of Sand-
Kunal Purohit is an in- has vocalised over 200 and pumped a bullet so eep Deo — his love-hate
dependent award-winning songs on almost every hard, that Gandhi finally relationship with PM
investigative journalist major talking point of the remembered Lord Ram/ Modi, his affinity to Yogi
who has been writing on Hindutva agenda. From Had Godse not pumped Adityanath’s brand of Hin-
development, politics, Article 370 to Ayodhya to that bullet into Gandhi/ dutva, his PIL against RSS
inequality and gender is- Pulwama to love-jihad, her Every Hindu would have Chief Bhagwat, fall from
sues for over two decades. lilting melodies and videos been praying at Medina grace within the sangh
His discovery of the sangh are streamed non-stop to and Mecca today.” parivar, and his joining
parivar’s closed world H- millions of viewers. Sandeep Deo, the third the Ikkjut Jammu (United
Pop propaganda machine Besides the world of H-Pop exponent profiled Jammu) for the formation
was accidental. In 2017, a pop music, Purohit takes in this deep investigation of a Hindu Jammu state,
Muslim youth was lynched us deep into the heartland, of the H-Pop phenom- is recounted in engrossing
for marrying a Hindu girl smaller cities, mofussil enon, is a multi-faceted, detail.
in small town Gumla, UP. towns and villages, where multi-talented devout This book has been

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