Two facts about the present political situation .. support the view that an attitude of  responsive cooperation, instead of one of hostility, should be adopted by secular democrats towards (Vajpayee) government.

The first fact is that the President was not in a position to form any government other than the one led by the BJP ...

The second fact ... is the wisdom shown by the BJP leadership in keeping the aggressive part of its communal programme on the backshelf ..

In a meeting of the National Executive ... L.K. Advani as the outgoing president of the party, recommended that there should be a reorientation in the policies of the BJP and that instead of dwelling in the the future.

The obvious objective of these remarks was that the party should abandon, or at least water down, its antipathy towards the Muslims ...

Soon thereafter, both Advani and A.B. Vajpayee declared that the party had not given up its programme of Ram mandir, Article 370 and the Common Civil Code.

These items were kept aside only .... for the sake of coming to power at the Centre, and that these would be implemented when the party obtains an absolute majority in the future ... The writer is inclined to endorse the latter reaction ...

... No party based on Hindutva as its main plank has a chance of obtaining an absolute majority in India, either today or in the future. The majority of Hindus, consisting of the OBCs, Dalits and tribals, have no particular attachment to Hindutva, which is naturally regarded by them as the domination of the upper caste Hindus. The minorities, particularly the Muslims and Christians, will also be opposed to a party having Hindutva as its main plank. it is more than likely that the BJP leadership is now well aware of the virtual impossibility of getting a majority in the general election on the basis of Hindutva. They know, of course, that the party grew in strength because of its Hindu communalism but they also know that the further growth of the party is not possible if they stick to Hindu communalism. Also, it would be virtually impossible for the party to get a sufficient number of coalition partners if they stick to the Hindutva ideology ... If the party finds that it cannot come to power ... it is likely to adopt some other ideology more acceptable to the majority of the people.

Such a change would mean a decline in Hindu communalism and that should be welcomed to all secular democrats.

... Apart from its aggressive communalism, the BJP also adopts the ideology of chauvinistic nationalism. It is the combination of aggressive communalism and chauvinistic nationalism which makes the party a potentially fascist movement. However, the communalism of the BJP appears now to be melting away. The party's chauvinistic nationalism is presently expressed in a two-fold programme - Swadeshi ... and "inducting" an atom bomb in India arsenal ...

In both these parts of the programme, the party is softening its attitude ...                                                                                                                 (Source: The Pioneer, 1 May, 1998)