The BJP came to power on the Hindutva platform ... On no other ticket but discord, dissension, communal strife. The demolition of the mosque hurt our middle class sensibilities. And that is why the change in image. Sniping away at the minorities every day is all right so long as it is not visible. A fascist agenda is fine so long as it is not translated into action where the middle class is under pressure to take a position. Innocents can be arrested and victimised for being Bangladeshi immigrants in the eyes of the BJP but this is acceptable as long as it remains confined to the borders ... Hundreds can be arrested under TADA, under false cases but this is fine so long as it is confined to the ghettos of Mumbai. Villages can be terrorised with all able-bodied men locked away under NSA, but who cares so long as this happens in the remote village of UP. Women can be gang-raped in Surat but this is fun for the middle class which entertains itself with video films of the horrific scenes. As for the statements and anti-minority assertions, well that is all part of the game. After all statements do not hurt. They only create an environment that hurts, but then that is beyond the middle class comprehension.

But the demolition of the Masjid was offensive. The middle class saw it on television. The details were carried in the newspapers and magazines. The world was horrified at primitive India. And the Indians shopping for their daily needs in the markets of Europe could not really justify this to the world. So the BJP came under pressure from its real constituency. And decided that it was time to change tack.

Take away Advani and bring out Vajpayee. His is the acceptable face, Advani is too crude for the sophisticated. Vajpayee more than passes muster. Besides his language is such that it further lulls the middle class into a sense of complacency: the BJP has changed, is their assessment. This is exactly what the RSS and the BJP hardliners want to hear. The BJP in power cannot afford to bring in Hindutva: music to the RSS ears. The BJP in government will be very different: the RSS is swaying in ecstasy. And to feed this gullible lot, the national agenda devotes a long paragraph to "genuine secularism". So everyone is happy: the BJP, the RSS and the middle class. The RSS most of all because it has finally achieved harmony, it has won over the middle class which is the custodian of morality in this country and is now working to a careful plan being set deliberately and quietly into motion.

For those who are dancing along there along there is one question: why should the RSS and BJP change the line that has brought them into power? Theirs is a fascist ideology with a defined vision of India. it became unpalatable to some after December, 1992. The RSS effected the necessary cosmetic changes to good advantage. It is now in government. The "mask" is in place, to be discarded when the time comes.            (Source: The Asian Age, 21 March, 1998)