The BJP simply exposes existing tensions

Indian society is divided by religion, region, language, caste and ethnicity. Communal, caste and regional tensions continue to haunt Indian politics, threatening its long-standing democratic and secular ethos.^[1] Although the BJP government stoked the fires of unrest during its first term, these societal divisions already existed.^[2][3] India has a long history of politically instigated sectarian riots that existed long before the BJP came to power. Most notably, under the Congress party, at least 2,733 Sikhs were killed in the streets of Delhi after the 1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.^[4] The BJP did not create this undercurrent, but revealed them: beneath the surface of what the elite had believed was a liberal syncretic culture, India was indeed a cauldron of religious nationalism, anti-Muslim sentiment and deep-seated caste bigotry.^[4] Communal, caste and regional tensions continue to haunt Indian politics, threatening its long-standing democratic and secular ethos.^[1]

[P1] Indian society is split by many long-term divisions. [P2] The BJP is bringing these to the foreground, not creating them.