Saffro-Nazi

Militant Indian Hindu extremists.

The term Saffro-Nazi (also, Saffronazis) has been used to describe Indian Hindu extremists who carry out “revenge terrorism” attacks against members of minority religions. The term has been attributed to Professor I. K. Shukla, who compared a “saffron-swamped” April 2006 march, organized by India’s B.J.P. party, to the marches of “Italian fascists and Nazi hordes comprising terror and mobsterism.”

The phrase reemerged in the wake of the arrest of nine Hindus accused of orchestrating the September 2008 bombing of Malegaon, Maharashtra, in which six Muslims died. Following a spate of other incidents, some non-Hindu Indians have taken to displaying saffron-yellow flags to protect themselves against attack.