<P> Vinayak Damodar Savarkar coined the term Hindutva for his ideology that described India as a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu nation . This ideology has become the cornerstone of the political and religious agendas of modern Hindu nationalist bodies like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad . Hindutva political demands include revoking Article 370 of the Constitution that grants a special semi-autonomous status to the Muslim - majority state of Kashmir, adopting a uniform civil code, thus ending a special legal framework for Muslims . These particular demands are based upon ending laws that Hindu nationalists consider as offering special treatment to Muslims . </P> <P> In 1906--1907, the All India Muslim League was founded, created due to the suspicion of Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders with the Indian National Congress, which was perceived as dominated by Hindu membership and opinions . However, Mahatma Gandhi's leadership attracted a wide array of Muslims to the independence struggle and the Congress Party . The Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia stand apart--the former helped form the Muslim league, while the JMI was founded to promote Muslim education and consciousness upon nationalistic and Gandhian values and thought . </P> <P> While prominent Muslims like Allama Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan embraced the notion that Hindus and Muslims were distinct nations, other major leaders like Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Maulana Azad and most of Deobandi clerics strongly backed the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian independence struggle, opposing any notion of Muslim nationalism and separatism . The Muslim school of Indian nationalism failed to attract Muslim masses and the Islamic nationalist Muslim League enjoyed extensive popular political support . State of Pakistan was ultimately formed following Partition of India </P> <P> The political identity of the Indian National Congress, India's largest political party and one which controlled government for over 45 years, is reliant on the connection to Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Nehru - Gandhi family which has controlled the Congress since independence . The Congress Party's fortunes up till the 1970s were single - handedly propelled by its legacy as the flagship of India's Independence Movement, and the core platform of the party today evokes that past strongly, considering itself to be the guardian of India's independence, democracy and unity . Muslims have remained loyal voters of the Congress Party, seen as defender of Nehruvian secularism . In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party employs a more aggressively nationalistic expression . The BJP seeks to preserve and spread the culture of the Hindus, the majority population . It ties nationalism with the aggressive defence of India's borders and interests against archrivals China and Pakistan, with the defence of the majority's right to be a majority . </P>

Five important cause for the growth of indian nationalism