Eleven months ago we had elections in six states. The result was an even split between the Congress and the BJP. Then came the national elections and all the hopes of a BJP comeback disappeared. Now in October, we have a confirmation of a solid trend. It is the Congress and no other party that can win again and again.

This is a situation fraught with dangers but also rich in possibilities. The BJP has wasted the five months since the general elections in silly quarrels and shown indecisiveness about its ideology, its organisation and its leadership. It needs to come to terms with the New India, a prosperous, confident India where you can’t play on the fears of its majority population about the threat of Muslims at home or in Pakistan, where the young men and women are happy mixing their faith with their fashions. The BJP at the top has people who are out of touch with the mood of the time, even in their dress and style of communication. The RSS/BJP used to have a programme of the social uplift of Hindus; the uplift has already happened and the parivar has missed the boat.

The biggest danger then is the decimation of the BJP. This is not a false alarm. In the past 60 years, many powerful parties have bitten the dust and are not even remembered today. The Praja Socialist Party was the principal Opposition party after 1952. By 1962 it was gone. The Swatantra Party was a powerful voice in the ’60s and the ’70s. The Emergency and the success in 1977 devoured it. The Communist Parties—I and M—are being gnawed at by the Maoists on their Left when they are not self-destructing. The outlook is bleak for ideological parties, whether secular or religious.

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