For one, the Prime Minister _ may be, slightly disillusioned and depressed by the turnout as well as uncomfortable with the scorching sun _ made a very short speech, not quite fitting for the much-hyped occasion and considering that this was his first public meeting after completing one year in office.

He seemed, as has now become quite usual, a man in danger and the Prime Minister made this quite obvious as he asked for a ``national consensus’’ at this ``critical juncture,’’ which meant that he was yet again seeking desperate help from all quarters. Obviously, the Congress, with its latest actions, and the coalition partners, with their continuing rock-the-boat attitude, have made Mr Vajpayee less than happy though he did make noises about the Congress being a ``destructive opposition.’’

The Prime Minister said that the ``spirit of democracy had to live on’’ despite such tactics by the Opposition, betraying the fact that the government had, in fact, started thinking of death. Mr Vajpayee also resorted to his usual rhetoric about the West Bengal government saying that the state was not progressing and that industrialisation had gone for a six. Whatever untruths were left unsaid by the Prime Minister were completed by the BJP national president, Kushabhau Thakre, and the Union human resources minister Murli Manohar Joshi, who said that the education system in the state had been politicised by the CPI(M).

On Sunday, the CPI(M) refuted the allegations of both the Prime Minister and his colleague with the state information minister, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharya, and state CPI(M) secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, addressing a press conference in which all the lies were nailed.

Earlier chief minister Jyoti Basu had categorically said that Mr Vajpayee’s contention that the Centre was ``ready to help’’ not true as the state had been denied monetary assistance by the Centre even in matters such as flood relief.``Mr Vajpyee has talked of land not being available for new railway projects. If that has been the case, how have projects like the Haldia petrochemical complex come up?’’ Mr Basu asked.

At Sunday’s press conference,Mr Biswas said that the BJP should look inwards and answer questions itself what with eminent academicians like Suraj Bhan being shunted out in Haryana and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen’s name being struck off the list of speakers at a seminar in Shimla and that of Mr Joshi included instead.

``The BJP has put VHP men in key positions in 17 of the 23 research institutions of the country in the last one year,’’ Mr Biswas said.``The history syllabi has been tampered with and we all know what has happened at the Indian Council of Historical Research,’’ he said.

Mr Bhattacharya, on his part, said that Mr Vajpayee should remember that he had ministers like L.K.Advani and Sangh Parivar notables like Ashoke Singhal who were facing corruption charges.``There is no way we can describe the attempts at destabilisation and attacks on religious minorities as anything but barbaric. Chief minister Basu has time and again referred to these actions as barbaric. Never once has he referred to any individual,’’ Mr Bhattacharya said.