One of India's most ambitious Hindu-nationalist leaders has caused outrage by preparing to hold early elections in the western state of Gujarat, even though the state has yet to recover from the trauma of Hindu-Muslim riots earlier this year when more than 2,000 people are believed to have been killed, almost all of them Muslims. Narendra Modi, the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister, thinks his party has more chance of being returned to power in Gujarat while memories of the carnage are still fresh in the majority Hindu community's minds than it might in a few months' time. If he is proved right, it will be seen by the BJP as an endorsement of its Hindutva (Hinduness) policy.
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