India's new government

Two years ago, Atal Behari Vajpayee managed just 13 days as Indian prime minister, but another such failure has now been spared him.

Whether the long months of political vacuum in Delhi are over is so far unclear.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies champion a brand of nationalism which appeals to the feelings of solidarity of the Hindu minority, and aims to give them priority over the other religious communities.

They use religious feelings for their political ends. To some extent, there is a parallel with the Islamists of the Middle East, although the Hindu nationalists at the moment use entirely democratic methods.

What kind of a danger the BJP poses is a matter for argument. India is not just a country for Hindus, but also home to 110 million Moslems -- almost as many as Pakistan, which was founded specifically as a home for the subcontinent's Moslems.

Even if the BJP avoids acting on any discriminatory impulses, it doesn't give the impression that it takes Moslems' demands seriously.

-- Neue Zuericher Zeitung, Zurich