... Taking a dispassionate view of what has happened one cannot but conclude that in the wake of the RSS' attempts to come out with the Sangh Parivar's hidden agenda (perhaps a sign of overconfidence after the NDA's convincing victory at the hustings in October, 1999, and restoration of the Vajpayee Government at the Centre) the electorate has reacted with characteristic wisdom once again. This rebuff to the RSS' machinations must compel the BJP leadership and notably Vajpayee himself, to engage in honest soul-searching. It is time at least the PM draws the necessary lesson from the setback for his party in these State Assembly elections: the Indian voter will not accept any group espousing a sectarian cause threatening rational unity. The Assembly poll outcome has clearly provided a measure of the liability - in electoral terms - the RSS, the ideological and organisational backbone of the BJP, has become for the principal constituent of the NDA.