It is difficult to establish the depth of the anguish I have felt in the last month, given the fact that Ahmedabad is my home; that I am a devout Hindu; and that I have been a supporter of the BJP for the past 3-5 years. Moreover, I even campaigned for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections as I sincerely believed that Atal Behari Vajpayee was the best prime ministerial candidate in the fray. My response to aghast liberal friends used to be that the BJP would hopefully evolve like the US Republican Party with its fringe extreme right elements (like the Christian coalition) who would create noise but not make or execute policy.