Other parties in the mainstream have never hidden their pragmatism — a positive spin on opportunism — and so can hardly be blamed for forging or breaking alliances which will maximise their own bargaining power, all irrespective of ideology or principle. A quick point on the Congress party here, which seems to have misread a significant political sentiment in its blind quest for winnability, by fielding the tainted Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from seats in Delhi — another example of misguided faith in electoral arithmetic above all else.

Overall, the scenario is a free for all, which will lead up to a grand post-poll bargain bazaar. To be in the best bargaining position, parties will not hesitate to undercut even those parties which they are destined to ally with come May 16 — look no further than the Congress, Mulayam, Lalu, Paswan episode.

All this may have been less frustrating for the average citizen — who must admittedly do better than hurling a shoe at a point of sharp disagreement or unhappiness — if at least some of the bigger parties were engaging the voter with a positive agenda for governance or change. But, unfortunately, leadership has swung between extremist positions on the one hand and banality on the other.

The BJP’s agenda has ironically not been set by its top leadership but by a vitriolic, minority-hating 29-year-old, whose public rhetoric is condemnable in the strongest terms. Yet, the BJP, hobbled by an uninspiring top leadership, has for the moment decided to hitch on to Varun Gandhi’s agenda of hatred and negativity instead of trying to forge an alterative leadership vision which would have required sidelining Varun first.

... contd.