IT was hailed as the highest sanction for votaries of Hindutva. Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Ashok Singhal even saw the beginning of a "yug parivartan"— epochal change—in the Supreme Court verdict that allowed Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi to continue in office last December. The fears it raised of a highly communal general election led Mohammed Aslam, a smalltime shopkeeper from New Delhi's Jama Masjid area, to seek a review of the judge-ment, in what is now popularly referred to as the Hindutva case. Aslam's writ petition was dismissed, but he is happier for it. For, the court observed that its judgement had been misread, and any candidate carrying this misunderstanding to the polls with a communal campaign would have to be ready for an unhappy surprise.