The United Progressive Alliance has collapsed amid recrimination and hostility and contempt.Manmohan Singh is widely despised for speaking too little and acting too late; Sonia Gandhi's party is believed to be heading for one of its worst defeats in history.

This is so much a part of our mental baggage that we usually seek to validate it by declaring the UPA itself a disaster. And, certainly, it has often been both lazy and incompetent.  Read more