There is poetry in soccer, say for instance, as demonstrated by the Spanish side which won the 2010 FIFA world cup.
Politics, in contrast, has become a kind of free-for-all wrestling match. Unfortunately, the politics which exists today is that as defined by Machiavelli, whether we like it or not.

According to Machiavelli, if as a ruler you accept that your every action must pass moral scrutiny, you will without fail be defeated by an opponent who submits to no such moral test. To hold on to power, you have not only to master the crafts of deception and treachery but to be prepared to use them where necessary. This we see passionately adhered to by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi.

As a result, with no possibility of fair play, we are left with an AIADMK, a DMK or a TTV Dinakaran while in the Centre, a congress or BJP (one being none the better than other) to choose from...

Hence we wake up to the reality of a Dinakaran victory in R.K.Nagar.

(Machiavelli quote from J.M.Coetzeee’s Diary of a Bad Year).

I feel leaders who are capable of taking on the likes of Modi and Amit Shah are the likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav and M.Karunanidhi.  People who are pinning their faith on Rahul Gandhi, it seems, are only day-dreaming.  Rahul Gandhi perhaps would do for the kind of V.P.Singh, but that’s different era. We cannot dream of it today.

I see no silver lining (excluding Jignesh Mevani etc) or consoling traits in today’s poll results.

p.s., civility not while fighting the forces hell-bent on diving the country.

BJP takes gujarat. hope we have no doubt about it? coming as it does after the disastrous demonetisation and GST, among other factors, the BJP has reason to celebrate. The saffron party did ride on the shoulder's of lies and a deceptive campaign...
The BJP would feel emboldened now to carry on with its divisive agenda as the clueless opposition continues to fumble. The congress setback perhaps illustrates the sloppiness of its strategy as it set out to face Modi-Shah duo in their den.
On the other side there is more noise -- self-congratulatory, defensive, condoning voices in favour of the congress and Rahul Gandhi-- that hardly makes sense. An undue haste in giving certificate of efficiency to the young leader is quite visible. But that can wait.

We need to keep in mind that gloating over despite the congress defeat in Gujarat would mean, quite again, lessons not learnt.
(meanwhile hope Prakash Karat is celebrating!).
After the bihar victory in 2015, this certainly is an ongoing descent for the congress-led opposition and unfortunately for the country.

p.s., if the opposition is not willing to bury its differences and get together Gujarat is most likely to repeat itself in the future.