So obnoxious was the CD that the BJP hastily "withdrew" it. It now pretends that it knew nothing about it. Yet, faced with a First Information Report filed by the Election Commission, party president Rajnath Singh melodramatically courted arrest. BJP veterans Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani colluded with this rustic and crude tactic.

The BJP has also published lurid advertisements in Hindi newspapers. Emblazoned with the lotus symbol, these accuse the BJP's opponents of shielding terrorists, opposing Saraswati Vandana and appeasing Muslims. They show a neighbourhood full of Islamic flags, with a slogan: "kya inka irada pak hai?" (Is their intention pure?). Pak is shorthand for Pakistan.

The BJP's stand on the CD is egregiously contradictory. Its wants to dissociate itself from it. But it also behaves as if it owned the CD and is being wrongly punished for it.

Duplicity comes naturally to the BJP and is integral to its politics. After the razing of the Babri mosque, Mr Advani said that December 6 was "the saddest day" of his life. But he has always defended the ideology that led to the demolition.

Gujarat-2002 made Mr Vajpayee "hang his head in shame." But within days, he was blaming Muslims for the pogrom. The BJP seamlessly vacillates between expressions of shame and pride for the same act! However, BJP leaders can't pretend that they weren't consulted during the CD's production. According to the Bulandshehr-based Fakira Films, which produced it, they were consulted "at every stage …"

"Withdrawing" the CD doesn't mean much. Its copies are in unrestricted circulation. Excerpts have been aired on television. The CD's potential to vitiate the election process remains unmitigated.

The EC is right to treat the CD's use as an unfair electoral practice under the model code of conduct and sections of the Indian Penal Code and Representation of the People Act which pertain to "inflammatory material capable of creating enmity/hatred…" The CD pours hatred upon Muslims as "traitors." It is designed to provoke a strong reaction from Muslims -- and a Hindu backlash.

It says Muslims kidnap and forcibly marry and convert Hindu women; deceitfully and illegally kill cows; and run "anti-national" madrasas. The message is: "(If) you don't vote for the BJP, disaster will strike this country… The BJP (alone) thinks about (India)… All other parties are agents of the Muslims."

The CD contains false and malicious allegations: e.g. about Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav having organised iftaar parties on the ghats of the Ganga. Its purpose is unmistakable: arouse hatred, and turn it into votes. The BJP routinely distributes obnoxious propaganda. During its national executive meeting last December, it distributed a similar CD as part of its official press kit.

In content, the December CD is no different from the present one. The BJP's intent of using religious identities as political instruments is well established. It mobilises votes through hatred, often wrapped in "nationalist" attire.

Communal practices should be altogether banished from India's public discourse. Unfortunately, they aren't effectively banned. Hate-speech and hate-acts directed at religious-ethnic minorities go unpunished.

A sordid example of concessions to majoritarianism is the questioning of the patriotic credentials of the minorities, especially when terrorist incidents take place. But India does have an electoral law developed under an independent, assertive election commission, which explicitly prohibits the use of inflammatory means -- on pain of disqualification of candidates.

Such disqualifications have indeed taken place -- as in some Shiv Sena leader's case. But disqualification isn't enough to deter communalists. India needs an explicit code of conduct, and solemn commitments by political leaders that they won't use innuendo, vulgar slang, or indirect references to particular communities while canvassing electoral support.

The present case offers an opportunity for such reform. The election commission must curiously consider de-recognising the BJP as a political party if its FIR charges are established.

The EC must supplement this by extracting from BJP leaders serious pledges that they won't use religion as "a loyalty test." Won't exploit the Ayodhya temple for electoral gains, nor depict the Babri mosque's razing in triumphant colours, as the present CD does. Should the BJP violate these, it must be automatically de-recognised.

Such reform is imperative. Secularism is not an option in India. It's a categorical imperative. It's part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and a precondition for India's survival as a pluralist, vibrant democracy, which respects minority rights.

As two supreme court judges put it in the trend-setting (Bommai) case (1994), the Constitution requires not just the state, but "political parties as well," to be secular in "thought and action."

The BJP -- with the Shiv Sena -- stands apart from all other parties in seeking to transform India into a Hindu-majoritarian entity. Like the Jana Sangh, the BJP has routinely incited communal passions to win votes. It must be prevented from doing so.

The BJP must be watched closely in UP, where it is desperate to prevent a bad rout. According to two major opinion polls, the BJP and its allies are likely to do much worse in these elections than they did in 2002.

The BJP's upper-caste support-base in UP has shrunk from 72 to 50 percent. Extremist parties like the BJP act waywardly when faced with defeat. They must not be allowed to damage India's secular fabric and democratic political framework.

The election commission deserves unstinting citizen support in its efforts to discipline the BJP. The party has got away with murder, and worse, in its cynical pursuit of communalism, thanks to the past reluctance of the establishment to bring it to heel.

It must be legally punished and politically isolated because of the CD. This can only happen if the EC and enlightened public opinion remain unshaken by the BJP's bullying tactics.

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist.