The paper considers mainly the issue of nationalist radicalism and Hindu extremism in India. Inthe independent India, the close connection between politics and religion became a detonating mixture thathas been one of the main reasons for the escalation of some conflicts in that country. In spite of some legislativechanges, inter alia, the 42th constitutional amendment, the Indian state didn’t create mechanisms of separationbetween politics and religion. Moreover, the process has become impossible due to the weakening of theIndian National Congress religious radicals taking the power. The authors illustrate a necessity to split politicsand religion and a danger of the religion politicization with examples of inter-communal violence in differentstates of India. There are some parallels between India and the modern Russia, and negative experiences ofIndia could be useful for Russia who also clashes with challenges of nationalism, extremism and terrorism.