Comment Re:Sounds like a culture problem to me... (Score 1) 245
>>It's unfortunately [wikipedia.org] a reality [wikipedia.org] of modern India that far-right [wikipedia.org] "Hindu nationalism >>[wikipedia.org]" is a common interpretation [wikipedia.org] of Hinduism.
Yes, so much so that within a year of an unprecedented attack on Mumbai by Muslim terrorists, BJP were rewarded by being consigned to obscurity in the general elections. A significant part of BJPs original voting block in the 90s was the growing middle class which saw them as being different from the socialist Congress Party. Since then even Congress has turned to free markets and BJP has been steadily losing it's vote share. Their best period was when they were led by a moderate in Vajpayee. And their rise to power was also aided by support of parties like TDP and DMK which are staunchly secular. Their record under the much more hawkish Advani has been pretty poor. So equating every BJP voter as a Hindu extremist and equating BJPs rise with a linear rise in Hindu nationalism is not accurate. Sure, they have a significant Hindu agenda and backing but except 1991, they fought most of the other elections on the development plank and not on issues like Babri or article 370.
Yes, so much so that within a year of an unprecedented attack on Mumbai by Muslim terrorists, BJP were rewarded by being consigned to obscurity in the general elections. A significant part of BJPs original voting block in the 90s was the growing middle class which saw them as being different from the socialist Congress Party. Since then even Congress has turned to free markets and BJP has been steadily losing it's vote share. Their best period was when they were led by a moderate in Vajpayee. And their rise to power was also aided by support of parties like TDP and DMK which are staunchly secular. Their record under the much more hawkish Advani has been pretty poor. So equating every BJP voter as a Hindu extremist and equating BJPs rise with a linear rise in Hindu nationalism is not accurate. Sure, they have a significant Hindu agenda and backing but except 1991, they fought most of the other elections on the development plank and not on issues like Babri or article 370.