The second point was that Congress leaders were profusely thanking mediapersons after the results were out, and that the latter were found mixing with the former with perfervid enthusiasm. A report suggested that the line of distintion between Congressmen and mediamen blurred for a moment at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters. Is it that mediamen are suddenly discovering the uses of being lessunfriendly to Congressmen in New Delhi and even elsewhere in the country? The widespread gossip has been that comparatively well-off mediapersons had become BJP votaries, frowning upon all pseudo-secular posturings.

Thirdly, there was Sushama Swaraj's tepid and long-winded one-liner. She had been brought in as a great warrior to lead her party to victory in Delhi, and she ebulliently presided over its debacle. Sushama Swaraj's greatness is that she is capable of catching media attention by offering some tepid stuff even in her defeat. Her argument is that it was not the Congress which defeated the BJP; the BJP, she declared, had been defeated by the BJP. That is pure tomyrot. For one thing, BJP leaders have been claiming a distinctiveness in terms of the solidarity of their ranks and their sense of commonality, which precluded any possibility of internecine fights. For another, in spite of sporadic mischief in every other mohalla, the party could have won if the rival claimant to power had not regained ahigh degree of credibility. Sushama is entitled to her grandiose notions even after she has been shown the door.

After its rout, the entire BJP crowd is behaving exactly like any other routed party on any conceivable occasion. Whenever an assembly election was lost, losers have always pointed out that it was an election fought on regional/provincial issues, and therefore, there is no reason to question the legitimacy of the central government. The central government, it is pointed out in great earnest, had been formed on the basis of a national mandate--which still remains intact. BJP leaders have religiously come up with this self-same argument, and they cannot be faulted. What is ridiculous is their attempt to make it appear that the kaleidoscopic combine headed by the BJP is as intact as ever. Come to look at it, it is not really ridiculous. It has never been intact.

Whether the allies will stand by the BJP in its hour of distress need not be discussed. They will not. They are only waiting for a newbranch on which they can build a nest. They would need no more than a nod from Sonia Gandhi to revise their ideology. After all, Mamata Banerjee can be depended upon to make any tortuous move that may earn her publicity, and Jayalalitha will choose any company that helps her out of her numerous cases and up into power.

Whether friends will move away in this hour of failure is only a minor point BJP leaders have to ponder over at this juncture. They certainly will, as mediapersons in New Delhi have reportedly begun to do. If it was hard to keep Mamata and Jayalalitha in good humour even when the going was good, it should become impossible now. Unless, of course, Vajpayee is ready to yield to every funny demand they raise from time to time. It is a matter of time before he finds that all his endurance has evaporated.

A more difficult question relates to the party's strategy and ideology. In the late years of the last decade and the early years of this one, BJP leaders believed they could ride to power onthe crest of a Hindutva wave. They could not. So they played down the compulsive slogan of Hindutva, not only in the hope of endearing the party to under-motivated sections, but also to rope in new allies who have not had any ideological tradition. That paid off marginally in the last Lok Sabha election, and Vajpayee managed to be prime minister.

Whatever he did in this past year-and-a-half has indeed had a bearing on the assembly election results. Even those who are anxious to de-link assembly elections from the national scene will grant as much. Beyond that, it may have to be considered whether BJP, as it is ideologically constituted today, can really provide a viable, stable alternative. It goes without saying that the present one has proved to be neither viable nor stable. That will be a useful discussion for all, not merely the BJP. And the running theme of that exercise will be that it is not enough to recite saraswati vandanam to inspire patriotism or to win an election.