Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Indian Elections Results
Thanks to people posting comments ..Some interesting comments .. Now I HAVE to blog about the elections and the latest political happenings ( no less than a typical Hindi potboiler with all the standard emotions :) .. ) in India.
Firstly why did the elections turn out the way they did ? With "India shining" and the "feel good factor" you would legitimately expect the previous NDA government to ramp home for another five year term. As many commentators have pointed out India "shone" for only the urban and to a certain extent semi urban population of the country. An oft repeated statistic is that still about 27% of the nation lives under a dollar a day.
India is not easy ..its a huge country with millions and millions of people all aspiring to live a better quality of life .. sure some of them benefited but ofcourse not all of them could have and hence did not benefit..I think its a very good sign actually .No longer did people vote on the basis of religious (hence the poor performance of the religious fundamentalist right ) or caste considerations , but on the basis of something more basic the "roti , kapda aur makaan " ( food, clothing and shelter ). Now the cry does not seem to be give us a Ram Temple , it is give us better opportunities to do better in life and that's great !
So anti incumbency set in as far as those people were concerned ..Also the "better offs" probably just stayed at home and did not even go out to vote ! I am also surprised that its not pointed out that the total tally of the BJP was not far away from the Congress and in no way can the victory be called an overwhelming one. I guess what caused this to become a big deal is ofcourse that this result itself was most unexpected ..
Now on the Prime Minister issue. I think Sonia Gandhi did a great job as a party campaigner. She worked very hard, braved the allegations of the NDA about the foreigner issue, she travelled about 60000 Kms throughout the country, roped her son in and when things at best looked chancy for the Congress , got them rejuvenated and lo behold ousted the previous government ! In a country where film stars have temples in their honour , figureheads and dynastic icons (like the members of the Gandhi family) are a huge draw.( No wonder so many actors and even a cricketer have got elected to parliament ). But But But, does that make her an ideal candidate for the Prime Minister of the country. Not by far ! I do not have so much of a problem with her "foreigner" status as some people have .. She has stayed in this country for almost 35 years now and has been a citizen for about 20 years. I think she would have become as Indian as much as it is possible for a person to become. ( Heck I know some of my Indian friends who start considering themselves Americans in a year of when they are here ..with the accent included ) .. However and this is key, I do have a problem with her competency to do the job. With barely a high school degree and with no formal experience in economics, government , international relations , health or in any of the "governable" factors she would simply be too much of a risk to try out! She was an effective tool to bring in the votes, but that does not necessarily mean that she can make the intelligent decisions that a person in her power would be called on to make.
Ofcourse in the latest saga to the great election drama , Sonia Gandhi has withdrawn her candidacy for the PM's post. As expected sycophants have cried , threatened suicide , pointed guns at themselves and what not. Its likely that Manmohan Singh would be the next Prime Minister. Thats simply fantastic ! The architect of India's liberalization , an Oxford educated economist , I think that would be great ! Ofcourse there will be murmurs about him not being in touch with the "common man". Lets see what happens. So India's Prime Minister would be a world famous economist and the President is a renowned rocket scientist. Bodes well for the country isnt it :) ¶ permalink
Firstly why did the elections turn out the way they did ? With "India shining" and the "feel good factor" you would legitimately expect the previous NDA government to ramp home for another five year term. As many commentators have pointed out India "shone" for only the urban and to a certain extent semi urban population of the country. An oft repeated statistic is that still about 27% of the nation lives under a dollar a day.
India is not easy ..its a huge country with millions and millions of people all aspiring to live a better quality of life .. sure some of them benefited but ofcourse not all of them could have and hence did not benefit..I think its a very good sign actually .No longer did people vote on the basis of religious (hence the poor performance of the religious fundamentalist right ) or caste considerations , but on the basis of something more basic the "roti , kapda aur makaan " ( food, clothing and shelter ). Now the cry does not seem to be give us a Ram Temple , it is give us better opportunities to do better in life and that's great !
So anti incumbency set in as far as those people were concerned ..Also the "better offs" probably just stayed at home and did not even go out to vote ! I am also surprised that its not pointed out that the total tally of the BJP was not far away from the Congress and in no way can the victory be called an overwhelming one. I guess what caused this to become a big deal is ofcourse that this result itself was most unexpected ..
Now on the Prime Minister issue. I think Sonia Gandhi did a great job as a party campaigner. She worked very hard, braved the allegations of the NDA about the foreigner issue, she travelled about 60000 Kms throughout the country, roped her son in and when things at best looked chancy for the Congress , got them rejuvenated and lo behold ousted the previous government ! In a country where film stars have temples in their honour , figureheads and dynastic icons (like the members of the Gandhi family) are a huge draw.( No wonder so many actors and even a cricketer have got elected to parliament ). But But But, does that make her an ideal candidate for the Prime Minister of the country. Not by far ! I do not have so much of a problem with her "foreigner" status as some people have .. She has stayed in this country for almost 35 years now and has been a citizen for about 20 years. I think she would have become as Indian as much as it is possible for a person to become. ( Heck I know some of my Indian friends who start considering themselves Americans in a year of when they are here ..with the accent included ) .. However and this is key, I do have a problem with her competency to do the job. With barely a high school degree and with no formal experience in economics, government , international relations , health or in any of the "governable" factors she would simply be too much of a risk to try out! She was an effective tool to bring in the votes, but that does not necessarily mean that she can make the intelligent decisions that a person in her power would be called on to make.
Ofcourse in the latest saga to the great election drama , Sonia Gandhi has withdrawn her candidacy for the PM's post. As expected sycophants have cried , threatened suicide , pointed guns at themselves and what not. Its likely that Manmohan Singh would be the next Prime Minister. Thats simply fantastic ! The architect of India's liberalization , an Oxford educated economist , I think that would be great ! Ofcourse there will be murmurs about him not being in touch with the "common man". Lets see what happens. So India's Prime Minister would be a world famous economist and the President is a renowned rocket scientist. Bodes well for the country isnt it :) ¶ permalink
