Ever more extreme

For those from more liberal traditions, therefore, it is easy to collapse all strains of BJP and of Hindutva into one - and, they are all likely to damage national cohesion and constitutional values

It seems an old and insightful joke about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still in operation. The joke is sometimes expressed as a cartoon, sometimes in words: But essentially the punchline is that every extremist in the BJP becomes a moderate in time. Not by changing their views, but simply because they are all inevitably displaced from their place on the far right when someone even more extreme pops up to attract attention. Thus Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave way to Lal Krishna Advani; Advani to Narendra Modi. Note the progression: Vajpayee spoke words that could lead to riots, but