Special Report: Battling for India's soul, state by state

Narendra Modi (front C), then-prime ministerial candidate for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gujarat's chief minister, walks inside the complex of a Hindu temple at Somnath in Gujarat in this February 1, 2014 file photo.

Volunteers of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) take part in a drill on the last day of their three-day workers' meeting in Ahmedabad, India, in this January 4, 2015 file photo.

KOLKATA | BY RUPAM JAIN NAIR AND FRANK JACK DANIEL-Tue Oct 13, 2015

An ascendant Hindu nationalist group wants minority Muslims and Christians to accept that India is a nation of Hindus, and is pushing some of them to convert. 

An election in the volatile state of West Bengal has become a prime target in its game plan.

The group's strategy: To spread its Hindu-first ideology to all corners of India by propelling the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power in as many states as possible. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) provided the foot soldiers in last year’s landslide general election victory by Modi, who joined the movement in his youth.

Special Report Battling for India's Soul, State by State by Thavam Ratna