This book brings together experiences, voices, analyses and diverse viewpoints which capture the complexity and intensity of the developments leading up to and following the destruction of Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya in 1992. The contributors demonstrate vividly that communal violence in India is based primarily on imagined fears, constructed by a regressive political process that must be countered. They examine specific violent incidents and also the broader forces which have shaped the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).