The Congress has reclaimed its ‘guarantee’ space that the BJP has tried to appropriate. Congress guarantees draw upon the guarantees it promised in Karnataka, Telangana and Rajasthan.

The backdoor linkages between ruling parties and select corporates are well known, but the court's order asking the election commission to publish details around donor and party information will give an official imprimatur to them.

Feminist solidarities came to the forefront in Bilkis Bano's struggle for justice, through legal petitions, street protests, vigils and signature campaigns. These solidarities were particularly evident after the remission.

The party's election campaign and the process of selecting a new leadership suggest that it just might succeed in carrying the social and political model of Karnataka to other parts of the country.

The BJP seems to believe that because it has an overwhelming majority in parliament, it can have its way all the time. Parliament is needed in this framework only for legislative enabling and quickly passing legislation or budget grants. This hurts democracy.

Walking together with people and taking them along is important in itself, particularly so in times of deep economic and social discontent. The yatra serves as a reminder of what public action can achieve.

The change in Bihar is important because it demonstrates that the BJP can be checkmated; its manoeuvres against the Opposition, hailed by the media as masterstrokes and smart politics, regardless of its implications for democracy, can be thwarted.

Exploiting the mistakes of the Congress, the Hindu nationalists accused it of playing vote bank politics. This opened up the political space for the advance of Hindu nationalism.

Although Congress still needs to put its house in order, it alone can offer a rallying point against the BJP style of politics, as regional parties are limited by their scope.

It is significant that the most striking decline of secular politics has occurred in the Hindi heartland, especially in Uttar Pradesh, the seat of Hindi and Hindu nationalism.

At the spine of this model is communal-authoritarianism, but another key facet is to dismantle protections for labour and deny dignity.

Opposition parties must show magnanimity in working out alliances and offer a multi-party alternative, to avoid the trap of a presidential contest against Narendra Modi.

Top leaders of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) never fail to caution citizens against the trauma of the Emergency, but the last four years have witnessed a steady hollowing of public institutions.

The less-than-impressive show in Gujarat indicates that the BJP is no longer invincible and that the opposition is very much in the game.

Decrying the Modi government's policies is not enough. Rahul Gandhi must also build an alternative development agenda and revamp his role as a leader along with Congress party structures.