A row over a controversial new book has underlined that India's main Hindu nationalist opposition party may be leaning toward a more radical agenda to reinvent itself after a heavy election defeat in May. The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled one of its top leaders Wednesday for writing a book sympathetic to Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Muslim founder of rival Pakistan. The step against Jaswant Singh, a former finance and foreign minister, is testimony to the growing clout of the radical elements in the party that are overshadowing its more technocratic, pro-reform politicians, analysts said. It may also signal a greater grip of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, the BJP's ideological parent which aims to transform India's secular society and establish the supremacy of a Hindu majority. “It's the Talebanisation of the BJP where the hardliners want the secular minority quarantined, if not completely neutralized,” said political commentator B.G. Verghese. The party suffered a shock 2004 election defeat. Its May election loss was partly blamed on a lack of political direction and leadership. Singh's book “Jinnah: India-Partition Independence” is seen as challenging the basic polity of the BJP, which demonizes, along with much of India, the Muslim leader for demanding the creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan. “The book is directly in conflict with the BJP's Hindutva (Hindu-revivalism) and anti-Pakistan rhetoric,” said political analyst Kuldip Nayyar. Some analysts feel it maybe premature to say a harsh sectarian agenda is what the future BJP is going to adopt. “There will be a sense of revulsion among the BJP supporters and voters that this opportunity is being lost and the party is bogged down with something from the past which has little relevance for young Indian voters,” said Swapan Dasgupta, a columnist.
