Abstract:

Elected to power in 1998, re-elected in 1999, the Bharatiya Janta Party - the political arm of the Hindu nationalist family- has preached for a 'resurgent India' rich of its identity, its newly acquired nuclear status, its intellectual and economic potential. At mid-term of its mandate, the BJP is however losing ground, for the electorate gives more emphasis to governance issues than to the troublesome agenda of the Sangh Parivar. The party will have therefore to choose between the ideologues and the pragmatists, particularly in the present context of coalition politics, resulting from the development of caste-based parties and regional leaders-based political formations. The old Congress Party, slowly recovering from decline, faces the same challenge from smaller forces, which express, under a new garb, the long Indian quest for unity in diversity.


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