The pen (or keyboard) may be mightier than the sword but, in the politics of our country, positive action is definitely more powerful.

While I can understand the genesis of the emotion expressed by many against the BJP at this time, I do not agree with it. Yes, there have been dismaying incidences. However none of you have any serious suggestion for any alternative. Who would you like to see in power? Arvind Kejriwal? Rahul Gandhi? Mamata Banerjee? The Communists? Mayawati? Mulayam?

In my small way, I have been following our politics since coming back to India in 2004. I have seen the coalition dharma of the Congress, the win of the BJP at the Centre and in the states, the rise and fall of AAP and the advent of Swaraj Party full of Prashant Bhushan’s often ill-tempered angst. In between I have observed how regional leaders such as Jayalalithaa, Lalu Prasad, Chautala, the Communists, YSR, etc. have (mis)governed their states.

I have come to the conclusion that among all these, the BJP is the best as of now.

Yes, we are seeing a lot of dismaying happenings, the latest of which is the Padmaavat hooliganism. However, I feel these are just signs of the pendulum moving too far in the other direction.

This too shall pass. What has happened is not good and there is no excuse. I don’t also blame the social media because, leaving aside fake news, social media can only exaggerate what is there. Yes, it does so selectively and does not highlight the many good things that have also happened under Mr Modi, but then one drop of black can colour the whole discourse.

This has a major impact on two kinds of people: On those already inclined to oppose and on those who do not have the depth of emotion to wait, watch and make constructive suggestions. Both of these express their easily aroused angst in an extreme manner, which is no less physically violent than that of the Karni Sena goons but equally virulent. The opposition parties flourish on the basis of such people and often manipulate them.

I do not claim to be wiser than others or have any special insights. However, I do have one advantage that some others lack. It is that I have personally known some senior people in the RSS and BJP for a number of years and I do not believe they will let this nonsense continue for too long.

I prefer to wait and hope. My hope is both for better governance from the BJP and for the emergence of a better Opposition with the necessary gravitas, integrity and leadership ability, potentially capable of single-handedly taking over the reins of India from the BJP. I have no faith left in coalition governments in the states or at the Centre.

In the meantime, I refuse to join either the chorus of rants led by the likes of Mani Shankar Iyer, Digvijaya Singh, Sitaram Yechury, Barkha Dutt, and others like them, or the odes of Arnab Goswami and his ilk.

I feel the pendulum of governance does not move from left to right and back. It revolves in an elliptical orbit around an ideal Centre. As democracies mature, the rotational momentum slows and the pendulum comes closer to the Centre. It never quite reaches this ideal because democracies are dynamic and, as we’ve seen in the US recently, elections can add extra momentum, which is sometimes quite unexpected.

The pendulum is never still but its elliptical movement is not regular in terms of time or distance from the Centre. The political ethos of the leading party and other major parties controls it akin to the gravitational warping of space-time by various stellar masses.

In a still maturing democracy like India, where parties have the major influence on the pendulum and in turn are influenced by it, a lot depends upon how strong the leadership is seen to be and how good the largest single national opposing party is. Smaller parties may succeed in making ripples in the political continuum, like the Karni Sena is doing, but these fade away, while the main influences remain.

These are akin to comets that have a minor passing effect on the movement of the political pendulum. Only the easily excited, aided by social media, get super-excited by these. Shortsighted opposition leaders, bereft of creative positivity, revel in these.

If Indira Gandhi had been alive, the Congress would probably still be ruling India despite leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Opposition because the BJP may not have had a chance to flourish as a national party. It did so when the electorate sensed the weakness in Congress during 10 years of Sonia Gandhi/Manmohan Singh rule.

In India we’ve seen the long reign of the Congress. Then came the coalition governments. Now it’s the turn of the BJP.

There were excesses in each of the previous governments. I say this not to excuse the excesses under the BJP, but only to point out the nature of the beast. Now it is up to the BJP leadership and the central ethos of the RSS to ensure that these excesses are curbed and harmony is created.

Notice, I do not say harmony is “restored” for, under the previous UPA, harmony was surface deep, covering the simmering resentment among the Hindus at the minority appeasement of a government whose PM had, in his wisdom, pronounced that “minorities, especially Muslims, have the first right on India’s resources”.

The massacre of the Sikhs, the ouster of Kashmiri Pandits, the Godhra carnage and subsequent riots, the Mumbai blasts etc. were not examples of harmony either.

While it is up to the BJP to curb the prevailing negativity, those who would like to replace it have the responsibility of evolving a leadership to match or excel the BJP in terms of reality and perception. At this time, the latter appears to be a long walk.

Ranting against the BJP is not going to achieve anything much unless the angst is replaced by the ability to produce a unified, credible Opposition. A mature opposition does not depend only upon the single-point agenda of criticising the ruling party. The Opposition leaders must also have some positive points in its favour.

At this time, the opposition parties and others opposed to the BJP appear to be experts at gleefully commenting on social media but incompetent at developing effective ground-level leadership headed by a mature, strong leader, behind whom all others can rally.

Till this changes, I tell the screamers – rant on. At least it will satisfy your desire to do “something” even if what you are doing is impotent in terms of changing our country for the better.