ostracise it. Possibly this hardening of the revivalist posture is a bargaining counter and will be toned down soon. The question, however, remains whether the BJ P would have chosen such a brazen course as it has, had the Left stepped up their political offensive against the Congress(l) from a broadbased position including the latter's communal role. In such a case, not only would the BJP have found it embarrassing and counter-productive to appear in the role of the splitters of anti- Congress(I) votes, it may have found it wiser to water down its own communal poison.