It is both curious and ironical how a single defeat can overturn the fortunes of a person or organization. When things seem to be going the way the current victor wants, there seems little chance of “cruel fate” intervening. The same can be said of the one who is “licking wounds,” clueless and looking for “kind fate” intervening.

And how!

I’m speaking of this in the context of our political scene. The NDA, towards the end of its reign was precisely riding the crest of tremendous popularity and successive victories. The euphoria was such that it didn’t in its wildest dreams (okay, I’m guessing wildly) imagine that it wouldn’t return to power. On the other hand, the Congress’ morale was shattered, its bozzini boss making all kinds of pre-poll alliances, fishing for support, trying to revive the party’s spirit… Yet when the results came in, the tables were diametrically turned in its favour. Never the fact that as single-largest parties, the difference between the Congress and the BJP was about 7 seats. The alliances saved the day as also its recent victory in Maharashtra and Bidar.

Today, the BJP faces the same sense of cluelessness and a morale sunk to the lowest ebb. By roping in Advani for the President’s post, it hopes to revive its fortunes. This is what leads me to the question: does defeat equal to obscurity? Just a few months ago, the media punters, and a sundry assortment of analysts predicted a huge victory for the BJP/NDA, while many went gaga over the achievements of the NDA rule: recall the cover stories depicting Pramod Mahajan as some kind of a wizard, of singing praises about Arun Jaitley, of Vajpayee’s strategic moves… the whole drag. The same people are now waxing eloquent about the “party with no direction.”

Well, I’m not going to dissect the BJP/NDA or the Congress in this post. That is the subject of another post.

This was more to satisfy my curiosity.