No movement, apart from the one begun by Mahatma Gandhi, has had as marked and decisive an impact on the politics of India as the BJP in its 21 years of existence. Born as a splinter from a discredited and truncated Janata Party in 1980, it quickly outgrew its troubled inheritance and embarked on a novel, radical path that redefined the political fundamentals of the country.

SCHISM: The Hindutva brigade has alienated the BJP's educated support base

The foremost target of the BJP's evangelism was nationalism. It imparted a flagging sense of nationhood with robust militancy, identified it with Hindutva or Hinduness and took it to a new religious high. Its dream of a resurgent India, blessed with a grand temple to the epic God Ram, found many takers in a middle class exasperated by the sense of drift in the country. The vision of India as a world power found reflection in the Pokhran blasts of 1998. It reshaped Indian foreign policy and invoked the grudging respect of the West.

Appraisal:  K. JANA KRISHNAMURTHY     BJP President

The BJP chief is not responsible for the mess his party finds itself in but he may still have to pay the price and give way If a gift-happy Bangaru Laxman had not been caught on video tape, K. Jana Krishnamurthy would perhaps have remained content, as he has been for close to a decade now, as another vice-president of the party. Though his election to the top post was smooth, his tenure has seen the BJP go through a series of setbacks that culminated in electoral debacles in key northern states in the past two months. Already, there is talk of the 76-year-old party chief being replaced with a younger, more dynamic leader. In conversation with Assistant Editor Sharad Gupta, Krishnamurthy dropped hints that he would make way "only ... for Advaniji or Atalji". ON ELECTORAL DEFEATS: "It could be due to wrong strategies and organisational difficulties." ON THE PARTY'S FUTURE: "the real test is the assembly elections next year. We will win." ON CONFLICT BETWEEN PARTY AND GOVERNMENT: "There is lack of interaction between the two." ON LACK OF LEADERSHIP: "most party leaders have joined the government." ON THE DEMAND THAT ADVANI REPLACE HIM: "I will abdicate the moment I get a hint from Advaniji." ON NDA'S RECORD: "no party can BE perfect. We also have our achievements."

The BJP's single-minded quest for national resurgence had a strong economic dimension. Lacking the socialist baggage of the Congress, it moved quickly to give Indian capitalism a much-needed boost. Always appreciative of middle-class values, it made entrepreneurship and self-aggrandisement respectable.

Yet, the BJP could never become a mainstream right-wing party. It possessed the instincts of social conservatism and free-market economics but these were offset by countervailing pressures of a saffron brotherhood that was deeply suspicious of anything western. The BJP tried to reconcile modernity with lower middle-class populism and ended up falling between two stools. Its core constituency wanted consumerism, affluence and some Hindu pride; its RSS controllers sought a non-materialistic bliss, austere living and doctrinaire religion. The two were horribly incompatible.

Equally mismatched was the quest for social stability, order and discipline on the one hand and religious turmoil on the other. The Ayodhya agitation and the resulting communal polarisation was responsible for the BJP's great leap forward. Yet, its youthful and educated support base was fearful of the wild bunch of sadhus and Bajrang Dal activists. When 24-hour TV catapulted the likes of Mahant Ramchandra Paramhans, Giriraj Kishore and Ashok Singhal into middle-class homes, the BJP's supporters were repelled. A Ram temple was fine but not the legitimacy it gave to the Hindu counterparts of the Taliban. The BJP was the party of Hindu prejudice. When that prejudice transformed into fanaticism, anger and weariness set in.

The reaction was also against a leadership that stubbornly refused to give up hierarchies based on age. For the party hardcore, the self-image was of a joint family where elders had a special place. To its voters imbued with the hustle of the market place, it was ruthless meritocracy that counted in life. They couldn't stomach the flab, the inefficiency and the corruption that a BJP-led Government promoted and endorsed. In the end, the BJP was a victim of its own sanctimoniousness. It created expectations it could not live up to. It changed India; it could not change itself.