The Congress party has not looked so good in years. As the anniversary of 26/11 draws close and the year 2009 comes to an end, it has clearly been a phenomenal year for India's grand old party. The principal opposition, the BJP, looks more miserable by the month, the Left is equally tied up in problems. The Congress, in comparison, looks the picture of radiant health. But even more than the misfortune of its opponents, the Congress must also get credit for acquiring mastery over the politics of dualism. This is the art of being all things to all men. Of carrying contradictions and harmonising them in a unified political message.
A party or a leader with a brittle image, approach, or message can no longer rule a country as complex and diverse as India. The politics of dualism is a fine craft. Atal Bihari Vajpayee practiced it with some finesse. With Brahminical dexterity, and a deliberate ambiguity, he pulled off a trapeze act between the Sangh Parivar hawks and the NDA allies, the ambitions of L.K. Advani and the pulls of a rainbow coalition. He ruled for six years and led the first non- Congress government that completed a term in office. Without him at the helm, it seems inconceivable that the BJP or NDA will ever reclaim those glory days.