Kolhapur/Nashik/Mumbai/Pune/Chiplun: In December 2022, a group of 30-35 people gathered for a rally in the coastal town of Chiplun in Maharashtra. These people had collected under the banner of the infamous and controversial Sanatan Sanstha, to protest against so-called ‘love jihad’ – a phrase used to describe inter-faith relationships where the man is Muslim. The Shraddha Walkar murder, where a Hindu woman was murdered allegedly by her Muslim partner, was used as a point of reference to amp up anti-Muslim rhetoric.I was summoned by the Chiplun police for raising questions over the provocative nature of the sloganeering. The slogans by the Sanatan Sanstha went without notice while requests to stop vitiating the atmosphere of the town was seen as an act of “disrupting public harmony”. My report about the same incident gives a detailed account of Sanathan Sanstha’s past. An organisation accused of murdering rationalists like Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare was not getting the attention it should have got from the police. But the story didn’t end there; in fact, it had only begun.The rally in Chiplun was actually part of a larger anti-Muslim campaign prevalent throughout the state, and organised at scale. This campaign was conducted under a new entity called the Sakal Hindu Samaj (SHS). SHS consisted of a spectrum of Hindutva groups like Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, Vishwa Shriram Sena, Shri Ram Pratishthan Hindustan and Durga Vahini among others.During the initial half of 2023, a startling revelation emerged: a substantial 29% of hate speeches documented nationwide were concentrated in the state of Maharashtra. Also, most of these hate speeches were delivered during the SHS rallies.Individuals promoting divisions and making controversial speeches came from outside the state too, able to come together, under the SHDS. Notable speakers included T. Raja Singh, Suresh Chavhanke and Kajal Hindustani among others.The impact of these rallies has been so pronounced that it has precipitated communal disturbances in several major cities across Maharashtra.§In this three-part docuseries, we dissect the strands of this political narrative, unveiling the intricate connections that have led a state once broadly characterised by harmonious coexistence to a creeping and ominous amplification of actions, speeches and public articulation of division and hate.Part I of the series introduces the Sakal Hindu Samaj rallies, the background behind it and the history of communal violence in Maharashtra. It gives an overview of the past three decades of communal violence.Part II focuses on Kolhapur and Trimbakeshwar. In Kolhapur, on June 6, 2023, the occasion of the 350th anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s coronation, a WhatsApp video extolling Tipu Sultan triggered indignation among certain factions. While a protest march by the ‘Sakal Hindu Samaj’ on June 7 remained peaceful, the following day saw Hindu groups in Kolhapur turning violent, launching stones at various shops run by Muslims. In Nashik’s Trimbakeshwar, a group of Muslim men were stopped at the entry gate of the temple. These men were allegedly concluding a “100-year old tradition”, they claimed. Videos of this event went viral and the mainstream media painted a disturbing and communal picture. An SIT has been constituted to authenticate the claims of members of the Muslim community.The escalating situation in both cases unveils political tactics aimed at polarisation the atmosphere, which may be ripe for votes. The role of social media in disseminating misinformation is a worrisome aspect, especially in Trimbakeshwar.This takes a deep dive in understanding the build-up and aftermath of both these major communal occurrences.Part III focuses on an organisation, Shiv Pratishthan Hindusthan and its leader, Manohar Kulkarni, alias Sambhaji Bhide.Bhide has an influence among the youth in Kolhapur and nearby areas. His affinity with the RSS is an open secret. Boys from Shiv Pratishthan Hindusthan were accused of fanning the riots in Kolhapur. We investigate this case and shed more light on his politics and influence, by talking to former associates of Bhide.This third and concluding part of the series also delves on the role Marathi literature and films have had in developing and fomenting an anti-Muslim narrative. The docuseries goes on to discuss Shiv Sena-(Uddhav Thackeray)’s influence in the state and poses the question, if its newly found positioning in INDIA, as an anti-BJP force, be a catalyst for change and for the better in Maharashtra?