The ascent of civility

The post-electoral rhetoric has been dignified

Post-election commentary has focused on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat in three traditional strongholds and what these Congress victories may presage for the Lok Sabha elections due next year. In the excited post-electoral speculation, including over the choice of the chief ministerial candidates, one aspect has gone unnoticed, perhaps because it concerns an absence, but a commendable one.

This is the all-round grace with which all parties, winners and losers, accepted the verdict of the voters. Yes, supporters and party workers performed their usual triumphal singing and dancing, but the post-election rhetoric was dignified. The glum faces of BJP party chief