Such is his importance in Hindutva circles that L.K.Advani quoted him at length while deposing before the Liberhans Commission investigation the demolition of Babri Masjid.
Ayub Khan, quoted from Elst, Koenraad. The Problem with Secularism (2007)
Koenraad Elst... comes across as usual: objective and blunt. It might not exactly endear the followers of Hindutva to him, but what he says is too important to be ignored. Belgian Indologist Dr Koenraad Elst is a dangerous scholar. With a cruel pleasure the establishment media and mediocre scholars bracket him with crackpots like P N Oak and zealots like N S Rajaram. Interestingly, both the establishment Hindutva side (as far as that exists) as well as the newly emerging ‘Internet’ Hindutva types are not exactly comfortable with him. Nevertheless, when the dust settles, his books will stand as invaluable testimony and source to express the Hindutva side of things in the most honest manner possible. Blunt but honest... He has razor sharp academic rigour and an objectivity rarely seen today among the academics dealing with this particular issue... He is one person from the Hindu side who knows the webs getting woven, ammunition being forged and stereotypes being constructed within the academia that will have serious ramifications for the Hindutva movement.... By promoting this book among Hindus, discussing and debating it, we will be doing a great service to ourselves. We will equip ourselves to fight our battles better. If this book does not get the enthusiastic reception it deserves among us, then it is a sad commentary, not on the non-existing marketing skills of Elst, which he does not need, but on us — our inability to respect Saraswati.
Aravindan Neelakandan, Why Koenraad Elst Is Important For Hindutva May 07, 2019 [19]
Elst, as his substantial "underground" following knows, is a linguist, historian, political scientist, prolific writer, brilliant mind and a wonderful raconteur.
Prof. Ramesh N. Rao, in Review of The Saffron Swastika - The Notion of Hindu "Fascism" [1]
Elst, an "outsider" has done a better job than any "insider" in challenging the "official" versions of history and the politically correct rendering of events and issues in modern India. ... These students don't want to give Elst a hearing. They are afraid that if he does get to speak, he might come across as a scholar who has indeed done his homework, a scholar who has collected data and is not merely parroting fancy theory and as someone seriously and effectively able to question the "given wisdom" of the "progressive scholars." Their gratuitous use of the term "Hindu right-wing" to describe people who do not belong to their camp (the camp that now labels itself "progressive" instead of taking on the opposite of "right wing, " i.e., "left wing") shows how quickly and easily these people use the tactics of demonizing and caricaturing, which they, most of all, should know is part of Goebbelsian and communist propaganda technique. ... Elst is absolutely right in his claim that some scholars in India have "white-washed" the Muslim invasions of India. ... . Wouldn't these "progressive" students like to see Elst's works banned?! That's what they are saying, but they don't have the courage to say so explicitly.
Prof. Ramesh N. Rao, in Review of Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society [21]
The most recent and comprehensive update on the Aryan Invasion Theory debate is given by Konrad Elst.
Subrata Chattopadhyay Banerjee - The Development of Aryan Invasion Theory in India_ A Critique of Nineteenth-Century Social Constructionism-Springer (2020)
... the prolific and sometimes anxiously contested Belgian researcher of Hindu movements and politics, Koenraad Elst. While Elst’s numerous writings on various topics are more suitable for debate by scholars in other disciplines, what may be relevant here specifically is his attempt to critically distinguish Hindu rhetoric of grievance from a more rigorous and analytical understanding of the Hindu experience of religious coercion and violence from monotheistic imperial forces in the past.
D Sharma, Ethics, Ethnocentrism and Social Science Research, 2020
