Democracy is not just about winning elections. When you compromise with your core ideology to win elections, your party is taken over by 'winnable' politicians, who take the party towards the exact opposite of your core politics. (1/n)

The idea that you can win elections by using methods that are against your ideology & then somehow return to your core AFTER winning, is a naive fantasy. The social groups, pressure-alliances, castes, classes, that coalesce to bring you to power do not allow you to change. (2/n)

That is why playing soft-Hindutva never helped the Congress party, because when it did, it was taken over by those who BELIEVED in soft-Hindutva. Democracy is not a 20-20 match. It consists of small battles, that might have to be lost, to be able to win the ideological war. (3/n)

From the perspective of people living in the present this seems futile & meaningless. They want change right now. In the long run they'd be dead. But, from the point of view of a generation, the long duree is of utmost importance. Any compromise now is a compromise forever. (4/4)