For a snapshot of the state of the subcontinent, you need only look at the daily newspapers. A recent front page of India's The Asian Age contained two stories about the price of onions in India, which is six times higher than a year ago; a piece about Pakistan delaying a long overdue cross-border bus service from New Delhi to Lahore; and a report on India and Pakistan's fruitless discussion about the Siachen glacier conflict ("The acrimony was very visible..."). Vajpayee was quoted as saying he'd never used a computer, "but I know information technology promotes some essential components of Gandhian and Indian vision of development." One of Mahatma Gandhi's grandsons had appeared on Pakistan television with a controversial stand on Kashmir. And L.K. Advani, home minister and second most powerful figure in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, announced that the Buddha didn't really start a new religion 2,500 years ago but was a closet Hindu.

Heavy going over morning coffee, and hardly encouraging. If Richard Nixon was the only U.S. President who could have gone to China, thanks to his anti-communist credentials, you could argue that the pro-Hindu, ultranationalistic BJP is the party capable of cutting the gordian knot of Kashmir and burying the subcontinent's bloody hatchet once and for all. If you think so, think again. The fact is that the BJP governs in a fractious coalition: its poor performance has it in perpetual campaign mode. And the BJP's campaign strategy has always been to take aggressive pro-Hindu stances, such as Advani's ahistorical slam of Buddhism, that risk divisiveness in the hope of getting support from proud Hindus.

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