Summary/Abstract |
This paper analyses the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Indian Mujahideen (IM) through the lens of social movement theory. By locating these movements in a larger historical and socio-political configuration, the paper documents the national and international political opportunities that fostered SIMI and IM's emergence and radicalisation, including the rise of Hindu extremism, socially institutionalised discrimination and international Islamist revival. Further, the paper investigates the emergence of a seemingly new collective identity and the resources it mobilised. Finally, it investigates the frames employed in justifying calls for violence by deconstructing and contextualising the groups’ Islamic cultural repertoires.
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