BJP & 20 big and small regional parties
INDIA: Opposition to Cow Slaughter Bill Undercuts Pro-Hindu Agenda NEW DELHI, Aug 22 2003 (IPS) - The failure by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to muster support from its allies for a controversial bill aimed at a nationwide ban on the slaughter of cows is a sign of these supporters’ larger opposition to the government’s pro-Hindu policies. For more than five years the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), totalling 20 big and small regional parties, put up with the ruling BJP’s pro-Hindu agenda that included everything from re-writing school textbooks to attempts at building a temple on the site where Hindu fanatics destroyed, 10 years ago, a mediaeval mosque at Ayodhya town in northern Uttar Pradesh. Although they do not see eye-to-eye on many issues, the BJP and its allies need each other to stay in power. On Tuesday, they stood together firmly to fight off a no-confidence motion brought against the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by the opposition ...