INDIA: DEMOCRACY WINS(Original Title)

New York Post ^ | May 18, 2004 | By RALPH PETERS

[CarrotAndStick]

May 18, 2004 -- IN last week's elections, the world's largest democracy - India - booted an economically progressive, peace-seeking government that had supported the United States to a degree unprecedented for New Delhi, and returned a notoriously corrupt party of obsolete demagogues to power. It was a triumph for democracy, and good news for America.

[CarrotAndStick]

My first post!!!

[bondjamesbond]

My first post!!!

And it's a good one. The author is absolutely right. There is no way a free and open election in India can be a bad thing, no matter who is elected.

[CarrotAndStick]

Especially agreeable was the part where the author mentioned the improvement in relationship between the US and India is, essentially, an irreversible process. What is your say?

[bondjamesbond]

The economic ties that bind the US and India grow stronger every day. They may be rowdy and out of our control, but India is more like the US than any other nation out there.

[MonroeDNA]

Good one!

More!

[happygrl]

Ralph Peters has a sensible and surprising take on the elections in India. Written before the decline of the office of Prime Minister by Sonia Ghandi. What do you think?

[happygrl]

News out of India has a loyal audience here, so your post is much appreciated. Ralph Peters' take on issues is also well regarded too.

Good post!

[swarthyguy]

Surprising? Why? Military types, both retired and serving, are far more clear about India than their civilian ideologue counterparts, more often than not mired in the outdated shibboleths of the Cold War.

Nothing much will change, outsourcing will continue, reform will - Remember the current PM is the one who started the whole econ ball rolling, along with Rajiv Gandhi and Jack Welch of GE.

Peace process with Pak will continue.

US/India Naval and Armed Forces cooperation will go on.

No point in a democracy if the same crew stays in power.

So, another election, govt changes, life goes on.

[Little Ray]

As long as the new gub'mint plans on having further elections at regular intervals....

[JohnnyZ]

The negative spin on the Congress win was silly, especially the market reaction. The BJP was always held back by its, eh, strongly non-secular wing, we'll call it.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Communists to call the shots - 14/05/2004

New Delhi - Communists will provide crucial support to prop up India's new government and could press a leftist agenda that includes a reversal of the 13-year push towards a market economy, analysts said on Friday.

Communists have never been part of an Indian federal government but have held iron grips over two states, where they have proved to be both stubbornly ideological and pragmatic when necessary.

Communists gained 20 more seats in the election to reach 62 MPs, who will be vital to the Congress-led alliance which has 216 seats. A government needs 272 seats for a parliamentary majority.

"The left is the most critical ally now," said analyst Yashwant Deshmukh.

"They will be the engine that would push the train from behind. They will call the shots."

The communists have already voiced support for a government headed by Congress, the party of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi.

But the communists still have to decide whether to make the historic decision to join the government, or if they will support it from the outside.

The communists have been militant in their opposition to the privatisation championed by the defeated Hindu nationalist government, raising fears that sent the Bombay Stock Exchange plunging over 6% on Friday.

"Obviously it goes without saying that policy of disinvesting public sector companies should go," Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan told reporters.

Harkishan Singh Surjeet, general secretary at India's largest left party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, echoed his views.

"We cannot afford it (privatisation). We oppose disinvestments of profit making companies. This policy has seriously harmed the country. This policy has to be changed," he said.

But the communists have also learned to be pragmatic, particularly in their two strongholds, the eastern state of West Bengal and the southern state of Kerala.

West Bengal, whose capital is Calcutta, has been a showcase for the CPI-M which has ruled the state without interruption for over two decades.

The state government has launched some of India's most sweeping agrarian reforms, issuing land deeds in the countryside that have given hundreds of thousands of peasants their first ever legal rights to their fields.

But more recently, the West Bengal government has tried to turn Calcutta into a new hi-tech hub and has banned IT workers from going on strike - a policy long unthinkable for the far-left.

The moderation of the left can also be seen in the personal lives of communist leaders, some of whom have sent their children overseas for education and encouraged them to take top jobs in the corporate world.

But Indian communist rallies are still full of red flags, hammers and sickles - and the CPI-M platform is unabashedly Marxist in tone.

[anu_shr]

What India has done is boot out some very , very evil people out of power - the BJP is a party that is a front of an organisation called RSS with an ideology closer to KKK or the Nazis with a clear agenda to convert India into a Hindu nation with fuzzy notions of Aryan supremacy through return of Brahmanical customs and rule. The minorities especially the Christians would have been in deep trouble if this party had continued to be in power. Most educated Indians are happy to see the Congress back as the dark shadow over the country has finally been lifted despite the gloss of breathtaking economic growth in the last 4-5 years. The communists are a pain - but then USSR was a better enemy than the Islamists.