Word: secularization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...liners, the Prime Minister is often a sphinxlike figure, who leaves observers guessing about his true feelings on issues such as Hindu nationalism. Under his prime ministership, however, the BJP-led coalition that has ruled India since 1998 has disappointed Hindu fundamentalists who hoped it would undo India's secular constitution. Last year, for instance, the government offered no support to Hindu volunteers who marched to Ayodhya to demand that the temple be built at the disputed site. Key elements of the BJP's right-wing support base, like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu-nationalist volunteer group, "feel...
...Vajpayee truly converted the BJP, forcing it to renounce its Hindu chauvinism? The BJP's attitude toward the Hindu right has been strategically ambiguous. At the same time that it has done little to upset the secular parties whose support it needs to stay in power, the BJP has also tried to reassure its right-wing base of its commitment to Hindu nationalism. Though the government has so far made little effort to build a Hindu temple at Ayodhya, the BJP's Mahajan says such plans remain part of his party's platform. "We will try to facilitate the construction...
...forge a coalition of anti-BJP parties and to strike a chord with moderate voters, the Congress appears determined to harp on the theme that the BJP is still a party of religious extremists. Jaipal Reddy, a Congress spokesman, says his party will fight a campaign to "save the secular soul of the country." The BJP's Mahajan says his party would prefer not to bring religion into the election but warns, ominously, that the BJP will "have to respond" if the Congress makes religion an electoral issue. If the Congress succeeds in turning the heat...
When India's Hindu-Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first took office eight years ago, some Indians wondered if it marked the end of their country as a tolerant, secular, democratic nation. After all, the BJP had come to power on the back of a violent and emotive campaign to destroy the Babri mosque at the sacred Hindu site of Ayodhya, so bringing religion into the very heart of politics. Moreover, the BJP was allied to many extreme Hindu-fundamentalist groups. Indeed, it was founded as the political associate of a neofascist paramilitary organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh...
...Hefner would say his magazine was designed to appeal to the whole man - if the whole man was Hefner. With a zeal that led Paul Krassner to dub him ?the secular Billy Graham,? Hefner promoted the religion of urbanity, or, as Newsweek tagged it, ?Urbunnity.? And apparently, many of his readers enjoyed imagining themselves as the Hefner male: the man who wanted fine wines, chic cars and smart clothes to go with his beautiful women. All were accessories to the good life that Playboy promoted as necessities. Madison Avenue quickly saw that Playboy was the ultimate consumer magazine: the editorial...