Interview With Advani

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ugh Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani is known as a Hindu hard-liner, he now preaches about India's economic vibrancy, not religious nationalism—a reflection of how his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has moved away from the politics of hate. Still, Advani reverted to type at an election rally this month in Ayodhya, where Hindu zealots had torn down a Muslim mosque in 1992 and demanded the restoration of what they said was once a temple to the Hindu god Ram. "We will build a Ram temple at Ayodhya," Advani declared at the rally. "India will be Ram's kingdom once more." TIME's Alex Perry spoke with Advani outside Ayodhya in the run-up to India's general election.

TIME: Why bring up Ayodhya again?

ADVANI: My party men chop it out of my speeches, but I won't avoid it. It's an emotional and sensitive issue, but I won't be apologetic about it.

TIME: Yet many say the BJP has matured and mellowed.

ADVANI: That's true. Our success comes down to our ability to set the agenda of national debate. At different points in time, we choose different agendas. In the 1970s, it was corruption. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ayodhya; we utilized it to have a debate about what was genuine secularism and how there was a different civil law for Muslims [from the one for] Hindus. Now the focus is on economic development.

TIME: How is your campaign going down with Muslims?

ADVANI: I would not claim that the Muslim community has started supporting the BJP, not yet, but the hostility is no longer there. After six years of BJP rule, they acknowledge that everything they were told about the party being hostile to them and undermining their position in society has not happened.

TIME: What's behind the decline of the Congress Party?

ADVANI: Since 1984, Congress has been shrinking and the BJP [has been] rising. And on the foreign origin [of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi], even the opposition is not ready to accept her as Prime Minister. It's not personal vilification. It's an issue.

TIME: How will you feel if Congress loses as badly as some predict?

ADVANI: As a BJP man, I'll be happy. But we must have two stable national parties. If Congress shrinks and disappears, it will be a loss for democracy.