Seeking the Middle Way

1925 Hindu extremists form the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with the avowed purpose of creating a purely Hindu Indian nation

1930s RSS leaders make several study trips to Nazi Germany

1948 A year after India gains independence, a former RSS member assassinates Mohandas Gandhi for appeasing Muslims

1950s The RSS forms the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) as its political wing. One of its leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, becomes an M.P. in 1957

1980s The BJS becomes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which bursts onto center stage by espousing anti-Muslim bigotry and calling for the demolition of a mosque at Ayodhya. The BJP claims the mosque was built over a temple to the Hindu god Ram

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1990 The BJP organizes V chariot processions across India converging on Ayodhya. Lal Krishna Advani, head of the party, leads the biggest: a five-week march during which devotees attack Muslims, killing hundreds

1992 A Hindu mob demolishes the Ayodha mosque, triggering Hindu-Muslim riots; about 2,000 die. Some BJP leaders are accused of inciting the mob

1996 The BJP emerges as the second-biggest party in Parliament when the Congress party, which has governed India almost exclusively since independence, suffers its worst-ever election setback. Under Vajpayee, the BJP takes power for 13 days but fails to form a stable coalition

1998 The BJP forms a second coalition government, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with Vajpayee as PM

1999 The NDA is re-elected. Vajpayee takes a bus to Lahore for peace talks with Pakistan's then Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. They pledge to ease tension, but a few months later Pakistani soldiers and Islamic militants clash with Indian troops in Kashmir. The Pakistanis are under the command of army chief—and future President—Pervez Musharraf

2001 A peace summit at Agra between Vajpayee and President Musharraf collapses. In December, Pakistani militants attack the Indian Parliament complex in New Delhi, ratcheting up tensions

2002 Hindus rampage in Gujarat state in retaliation for a Muslim train attack that left 59 Hindu activists dead. About 2,000 Muslims die in revenge killings by Hindu mobs. Eyewitnesses allege complicity by local BJP officials

2003 Vajpayee faces down rivals in the BJP with the help of several high-profile foreign visits. The party tones down its hard-line agenda; in December, the BJP wins three state elections by campaigning on the economy, not religion

2004 Riding a surging economy and peace talks next month with Pakistan, the BJP prepares for early general elections. Vajpayee, hailed for his "statesmanship" by Musharraf, leads the BJP into polls on a moderate center-right platform