Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is trying very hard to tell religious minorities that his party, and the alliance he leads, loves them. He is currently in a hectic election mode and is coming up with soothing words for the minorities virtually on a daily basis. His latest one, while on campaign in Patna, states that if the BJP is voted to power again, it will "suitably amend" the Constitution to make it more responsive to minority needs ... Vajpayee's reassurances indicate that at some level, he is quite aware that the BJP needs to project a spruced up profile so that the minorities give up their perceived reservations about the BJP-dominated combine. At the other level, the Prime Minister has been rather happily ambiguous:

Does the Constitution, as it exists now, actually needs amendments to become more minority-friendly ?... It is, therefore, a moot point whether it is the Constitution that needs to be amended or it in the attitude of political parties towards the more disadvantaged sections of the have-nots which needs a change ... The Constitution need not be amended at all, unless of rourse there are specific lacunae which Vajpayee has it inind but forgot to mention in the course of ... electioneering ... In fact, if Vajpayee and his alliance is at all so concerned about bringing the minorities on the same footing as the other sections of Indian society, all that he has to do is to tell Advani, his second-in- command, not to needlessly reopen a now-off-now-on controversy about the Ram Mandir ... The Sangh Parivar speaks in several voices on contentious issues like Ayodhya ...