After all, Mr Gandhi's father, Rajiv, had promised to change the party and its ethos in a similarly stirring speech in 1985, before he went on to be prime minister and was later assassinated.

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Despite humiliating defeats in the two most recent elections, the party's tolerant ethos remains a touchstone for most Swedes.

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Her Conservative Party had long ago made its peace with the welfare state and the ethos of high spending and high taxes.

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Reaching the capital of Bhopal, I found the state's Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, felt the secularism of his Congress party needed to be redefined to take account of India's deeply religious ethos.

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