The ... parliamentary polls have thrown up a new challenge before the country ... Whether the nation can meet the challenge will ... depend on the ability of the leaders of political parties to learn lessons from past mistakes, particularly those that brought about the dissolution of the 11th Lok Sabha, the collapse of three governments in just 18 months and patently an avoidable

election ...

Vajpayee is aware of the complexities of the task ahead of him in managing a coalition of as many as 17 groups of different persuasions, but the Congress and the United Front - or whatever is left of it - will be ill-advised in adopting a confrontationist approach ...

Whatever the limits of the mandate of the BJP-led alliance, the Congress and the United Front have clearly been rejected by the electorate ...

The country has already played a high price for political parties' - including the BJP's - choosing to follow anti-Congressism over the years. It should not be made to pay for the Congress and the United Front deciding to follow a blind anti-BJPism now. Such an approach will add more tensions in politics, detracting attention from national tasks requiring all-party cooperation.

The BJP has been spurned by other parties because of its fondness for Hindutva and what is described as "cultural nationalism". The demolition of the Babari Masjid alienated a chunk of countrymen from the party. Whatever the compulsions - electoral or otherwise – the party is now choosing to shelve such divisive issues ... The country should welcome the party's adaptive inclination to give up the politics of the extreme and come to the middle of the road where pragmatism more than passions are the best guides. Pushing the fundamentalists back to hardline positions can hardly be considered wise or politically correct.                                                                                                      (Source: The Times of India, 11 March, 1998)