Down but not out

One of the most common statement we hear these days from media, common people, experts is about BJP in disarray. While mos tof the common public says this with some amount of curiousity, doubt and worry, the media and experts sound extremely glad. But then most of them forget a few things, which I am trying to point out.

While BJP lost the elections and came down to 116 seats, more than 80 seats were lost with a margin of less than 15,000 votes or less than 2%. This means that with some more effort in right direction, the tide can and will change.
In 1998 and 1999 elections, Congress was down to the same tally as BJP currently but then they did manage to bounce back in 2004. And plus BJP in 1989 bounced from 2 seast to 85 seats. So there is no reason why history cannot repeat itself. All we need is to have basic faith in our ideology.
If one looks at the Congress record over the years, it is clear that in absence of a strong opposition, Congress starts running this country like a personal kingdom and then starts the cycle of corruption, nepotism, sychopancy and violation of human rights. For this main reason, it is important that BJP stays strong. It's not only in BJP's interests but also in the interest of the country.
The glaring difference in BJP's post-lost actions and Congress's post-loss action in 1998 and 99 is that not only does BJP start thinking on ideological terms but the experts, the media and common man also expects it to think about its ideology one way or other. Compared to this, all Congress did was "we need Gandhis" after their earlier electoral losses. This is a redeeming feature in BJP and Left. They fight elections on ideological grounds. And that's why post losses, the discussion on ideology starts. It's always in national interests to have a mainstream national party which fights on ideology and not on individuals. And after a loss, one does not need to change the ideology but just the means to communicate it better and more clearly. This I am sure, BJP has already begun.

The battle's lost but the war's still on.