No surprise then. Not for readers of this column. I am afraid I have to crow though with some humility. I had consistently said Congress would be the largest single party, and the UPA will form the government but with new partners. As it happened, Congress got many more than 160; it looks like 200 or maybe more as of now. The UPA as it was contesting will get to 250 plus and may not even need the Fourth Front, to say nothing of the pretentious, deluded Third Front.

The BJP/NDA has much serious thinking to do. India needs a good stable opposition. It needs one which is modern in its outlook and its leadership. The majority of voters were born after the Partition, not to say after the Emergency. To them the BJP agenda is meaningless. All the Muslim-bashing and lately even Christian-hating (BJP may not own up to it but it never forcefully disowned its paratroopers) will not do. The politics of hate belongs to a lost generation. India could use a robust right-wing party which can offer a serious alternative to Congress/ UPA. In its present form BJP has a long way to go before it does that. Varun Gandhi is not the future which beckons. He should have been denied a ticket after the speech he made at Pilibhit. The hesitant mention of Mandir showed that the BJP knows this but the temptation to play the Hindutva card cost a lot of votes when, after Malegaon, the party began to denounce the ATS. If a national party disowns the forces of law and order and distinguishes between Hindu terrorism ( good) and Muslim terrorism (bad) it has no place in today’s India. The votes pretty much gave that message.

... contd.