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Article: Avuncular and fascist too: operation whitewash, Indian politics and the BJP. (Bharatiya Janata Party)
- Article from:
- Arena Magazine
- Article date:
- August 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In commenting on the outcome of the Indian election earlier this year, the foreign editor of the Australian, Greg Sheridan, pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not be the disaster that some feared (Australian, 6 March). Describing party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee as a warm, avuncular man who denied being a Hindu fundamentalist, Sheridan assured readers that Vajpayee would pursue a moderate policy. In the broader context, he argued, there were equally reassuring signs. He claimed, for example, that the BJP had learned its lesson from the violent destruction of the Ayodhya Mosque in 1992, an event, he noted, probably only wanted by a tiny minority of ...