Time was when a group of politicians and political parties suffered from the BJP-phobia. They treated the BJP as a pariah of politics----- the untouchable. They addressed political rallies making declarations and taking vows to rid the country of the saffron virus, symbolised by the BJP. They made various permutations and combinations to ensure that none mentioned the BJP on public forums and political daises. But then time and the people proved that those who practiced negativism would ultimately be the victims of that negativism. They were allergic to the BJP at that time because they thought it was slowly becoming a candidate for political power to govern the country, as it did. But what they actually did was giving massive free publicity to their bugbears and making it much better known all over the country than it was before they started their campaigns against the BJP and its leaders.

The biggest enemies of the BJP, including the Akalis, various kinds of socialists, Telugu  Desam, AIDMK, all made common cause with the  BJP to get a slice of the cake which spelt NDA and the control of the political throne of Delhi.

Then intoxicated with the same power-drug, the BJP and its negative minded insiders and colleagues within the Parivar and the NDA began with the same folly of negativism. They targeted the Congress led by Sonia Gandhi and those who dared come near it as enemies and tried every dirty trick in the book, perhaps because they were afraid that Sonia Gandhi was steadily building up the Congress power to seize the throne of Delhi and of many regional thrones from the BJP and its allies.

That negativism led to the shocking BJP defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha election and the Congress victory. The BJP and the NDA were themselves, through their negativism, responsible for the return of the Congress. They can go on analysing, finding causes and blaming one another for the defeat of the NDA conglomerate, but the fact remains that they defeated themselves with their blind negativism

Those political leaders who had promoted the commercial interests of the media barons of their choice also misused media to the hilt. In fact, some of the biggest media corporate became the propaganda channels.

Some of the electronic media channels also played a patently questionable role in fighting the proxy wars of various political parties and their bosses and queering the pitch by raising more and more irrelevant personal issues to turn the politics of India into a stinking quagmire. Were they playing the role of hirelings or self-appointed king-makers, or queen-makers, seeing the increasing number of women politicians from Tamil Nadu to Kashmir who manage to hit the headlines and top bytes as chief ministers, political leaders and rebels. The leaders of the media should indulge in some serious self-analysis about the role of those who are too willing to act as proxy warriors or media mujahideens for masters who can afford to pay in terms of patronage of one kind or another, not just licences, but may be plum seats in legislatures and even councils of ministers.

Whether it was the NDA conglomeration of parties or the present UPA coalition, the fact remains that a handful of constituents have always been threatening the very stability of governance by raising issues that serve the parties of smaller sizes and their leaders more than the coalition or the people of India. The role of regional parties as power-brokers or Shylocks demanding their pound of flesh in return for their support from within and outside the ruling government at Centre and states is quite negative and often undesirable.

We need positive political parties, positive leaders, positive politics and positive proof of their sincerity. We also need positive answers from not prime minister or chief minister but who will solve the problems of the people, how and in what definite span of time.

Let us, the people of India, firmly and openly send the message out: Positive politics please.