I agree and sincerely hope that India doesn't go back to the socialist economic route of Nehru's legacy with the public sector under cutting the booming private businesses.
Though, the poor & especially the rural poor of India must notice an economic upturn or they will feel disfranchised & vote in an even more radical (economically speaking) candidates come next elections & their might not be a clear majority of the coalition of either party, causing more uncertainty.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ahmadjee: *
I agree and sincerely hope that India doesn't go back to the socialist economic route of Nehru's legacy with the public sector under cutting the booming private businesses.
Though, the poor & especially the rural poor of India must notice an economic upturn or they will feel disfranchised & vote in an even more radical (economically speaking) candidates come next elections & their might not be a clear majority of the coalition of either party, causing more uncertainty.
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Exactly my thought Ahmed Jee. With all this hoopla about India shining and economy doing great has one caviate.Which is that somehow benefits are not reaching the poors. This is one area Indian goverment need to work. With all this world attention Indians whouldnot forget that we have almost 50% of world poors and we need to work for them.
FnB this where politics are being with poor people's lives. In developmental economics, and the reforms (which were congress' inital thrust), liberalizing the economy meant shutting down NPA's, Divesting high performing ones, and deregulating industries to promote competition. These capitalist mantras have a dark side in the short term, which is unemployement or volatile employment (peaks and troughs). Displacement of workers (migrant labor: ala china) and uneven economic development in regions. In ther long term scheme of things every country that went through such processes went though the dichotomy. Be it the US, Europe, India, China, Japan, you name it.
Congress' tactics have been to exploit this imbalance which is good for the nation on the whole and is not a creation of a government's policy but a simple result of economic change to it's political advantage. In two years time they will go through a similar scenrio, mark my words.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Matsui: *
FnB this where politics are being with poor people's lives. In developmental economics, and the reforms (which were congress' inital thrust), liberalizing the economy meant shutting down NPA's, Divesting high performing ones, and deregulating industries to promote competition. These capitalist mantras have a dark side in the short term, which is unemployement or volatile employment (peaks and troughs). Displacement of workers (migrant labor: ala china) and uneven economic development in regions. In ther long term scheme of things every country that went through such processes went though the dichotomy. Be it the US, Europe, India, China, Japan, you name it.
Congress' tactics have been to exploit this imbalance which is good for the nation on the whole and is not a creation of a government's policy but a simple result of economic change to it's political advantage. In two years time they will go through a similar scenrio, mark my words.
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I will be glad if it goes that way. Thanks for your insight and hope this works.
India elections: Good day - bad day](BBC NEWS | South Asia | India elections: Good day - bad day)
It was a good day to be a Congress supporter
Good Day
Sonia Gandhi
The Italian-born widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has been the butt of continuing derision from her opponents because of her foreign origins.
But with projection of the final results placing the opposition alliance - led by her Congress party - ahead of the BJP and its allies, there is every chance she could be nominated as India’s next prime minister.
Bad Day
Atal Behari Vajpayee
Mr Vajpayee called India’s elections six months early, but the bold move looks to have boomeranged.
The general election defeat may have put the lights out on the twilight of his political career - although quitting as prime minister, he will carry on until someone is found to replace him.
Voting machines were not the disaster that some feared
Good Day
Electronic voting machines
India’s first all-electronic general election has been a triumph, with results in within hours, instead of days thanks to a computerised army of one million voting machines.
There were some minor glitches during voting days. But technicians worked overtime to make the poll go smoothly in the world’s largest democracy where most of the 668 million eligible voters in 543 constituencies are still poor, rural workers.
Bad Day
‘India Shining’
Mr Vajpayee’s party spin doctors coined the phrase “India Shining” as a reference to what they said was a feel-good factor sweeping the country.
But it turned out that voters in a country where a third live on less than $1 a day were less than impressed, giving the BJP a metaphorical ‘shiner’ at the ballot boxes.
Good Day
Rahul Gandhi
The entry of Sonia Gandhi’s son energised the Congress campaign - he won by over 100,000 votes in the constituency of Amethi in north India, a seat once held by his father.
Tricky Day
APJ Abdul Kalam
After accepting the resignation of his prime minister, India’s president now faces a tricky legal decision over who should be asked to form the next administration following a hung parliament.
Govinda was won of several Bollywood stars to triumph
Good day
Bollywood stars
One of the most prominent Bollywood stars to triumph was a stand-up comedian Govinda of the Congress party, who defeated India’s Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, a BJP heavyweight, in a Bombay constituency.
Bad Day
Yashwant Sinha
The foreign minister and NDA heavyweight lost his home seat of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
Good Day
Age did not weary Mr Veerappa
Ramachandra Veerappa
India’s oldest candidate, 94 years old, won the reserved Bidar constituency for a successive fifth term to parliament. The veteran of the BJP won by a margin of 23,000 votes over his Congress rival. Mr Veerappa campaigned vigorously in the elections despite his age and is now recuperating at a hospital.
Bad day
Jayalalitha
The Tamil Nadu chief minister appeared to have alienated herself from her people. The strong electoral alliance cobbled by the DMK president, Mr Karunanidhi, and the anti-incumbency all worked against her AIADMK party.
im glad bjp is out. some of the stuff on bjp.org is truly nauseatingly ridiculous.
I dont want Sonia Gandhi to become the PM not because I have any problems with her foreign origin but the fact that she will always be up against the opposition shouting "foreign hand" no matter what she does or does not do as the PM. The gullible and the generally illiterate Indian public would buy all this trash talk and soon enough BJP will come back with a solid majority. If I was Sonia and had the interest of the congress party, I wouldn't want to be the PM.
So Indians are going to replace Paratha with Pasta now? :D
My Indian colleagues' reactions:
Indian # 1 - It is a shameful day for Indians.. how can a non-hindu become the PM
Indian # 2 - What, Sonia Gandhi's party won ? Hmm, who do you like better ?
Indian # 3 - who cares
I didn't get to ask the other two...
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*Originally posted by ChaChoo: *
My Indian colleagues' reactions:
Indian # 1 - It is a shameful day for Indians.. how can a non-hindu become the PM
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I think you have replaced "non-Indian" with "non-Hindu". Most Indian Hindus (like me) will not lose sleep if a non-Hindu Indian were to become PM.
However the comment that I have been mostly hearing from my friends is.."It will be shameful for a country of 1 billion to have a "foreign" PM. First of all I do not see Sonia doing any worse than her predecessors. Also, I dont think this is any more shameful than 1 billion of us not having 1 single Olympic Gold Medallist among our midst.
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*Originally posted by Some1: *
However the comment that I have been mostly hearing from my friends is.."It will be shameful for a country of 1 billion to have a "foreign" PM.
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yep..Even I heard of it .But I find it funny and hypocritical because I saw the same guys jumping out of pants when this Indian dude was about to win Luisiana ( I hoe I spelled it correctly) election. What a bunch of hypocrates?
This is just racist to consider Sonia a foreigner considering that she has now spent almost 35 years in India and hardly visited Italy.
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*Originally posted by Some1: *
I think you have replaced "non-Indian" with "non-Hindu". Most Indian Hindus (like me) will not lose sleep if a non-Hindu Indian were to become PM.
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nope, I asked her twice you mean non-Indian? she said "no, non-Hindu, India's majority is Hindus and the leader should be a Hindu"
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*Originally posted by karina: *
every state has witnessed peaceful elections except frigin Bihar as usual. booth capturing was reported and there will be re-elections there. why can't we present Bihar to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture? They can call it middle kingdom.:p
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This is what was so great about this election. In terms of violence, it was far less than what India has witnessed during elections in the past. Also, it was gratifying to note that EVMs were successfully used.
As for BIHAR, it is ironical that while reformist CMs like Krishna and Naidu were done in by the anti-incumbency factor, in the state of BIHAR (which has become more or less like Afghanistan now), the party in power, which is RJD, managed to hold its own in the LS polls. I guess Biharis continue to be "pleased" with the performance of their proxy CM - Rabri "Angootha-Chaap" Devi and the real CM, her clown laloo husband. In Bihar, democracy means government by the illiterates, of the illiterates but not for the illiterates. Yes, I think the Indian Govt should donate Bihar to Pak as a goodwill gesture.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by fair_&_balance: *
This is just racist to consider Sonia a foreigner considering that she has now spent almost 35 years in India and hardly visited Italy.
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Yaar f&b ...I know what you mean...but I really hope Sonia does not make herself as the PM...because doing so will give too much ammunition to the opposition who will jump up and down at every given opportunity with the "foreign hand" crap making Sonia's life as the PM miserable. And the fact is that the vast majority of the Indian electorate who actually go out to vote is not intelligent enough to see through this trash talk and you know what will happen in the next election.
Man the one thing we have to admire about India is the peaceful transfer of power. Vajpayee graciously accepted the verdict and stepped down.
Except for a couple of occasions, power transfer in Pakistan has always been due to death of a leader or coup.
You have got to give to Indians on this aspect.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Khilaari: *
Except for a couple of occasions, power transfer in Pakistan has always been due to death of a leader or coup.
[/QUOTE]
Dont want to sound condescending, but it is difficult enough to get a Pak cricket captain to step down, graciously i.e.
Could have something to do with the Pakistani ego...
I don't see what teh problem is with Sonia becoming the PM. She has lived in India for 35 years and has Indian nationality. Whats the problem? Does it say in the Indian constitution that the PM has to be born in India or that a non hindu cannot become a PM?
Ok…abhi Govt bani nahi and the communist parties have already started to work on its wish list for the Congress.
Scrap divestment policy: Left parties
As a result, Bombay Sensex crashes 232 points dragged down by PSU, Bank stocks.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with coalition governments.
India’s “Queen Sonia” looks for power](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Sonia Gandhi, India’s Italian-born prime minister-in-waiting, has begun a hectic round of talks to secure allies for a new government to replace the Hindu nationalists routed by a rural backlash.
The world’s largest democracy has been stunned by the size of the upset poll win by Gandhi’s Congress over Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was rejected by the disaffected rural poor angry at missing out on the benefits of India’s economic boom.
“Shock and awesome” said the Hindustan Times in its front page banner headline after Thursday’s national election count; “KING CONG, QUEEN SONIA”, said The Times of India.
But Gandhi is still considered a political novice. She only formally replaced her husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, as Congress chief seven years after his 1991 assassination.
Written off by opinion polls just three weeks ago, Congress fared far better than expected and will be the largest party in the new 545-seat parliament. But Gandhi’s coalition, with fewer than 220 seats, needs new partners.
She now faces the delicate task of stitching up an alliance with leftist parties, which hold a critical bloc of 60-plus seats but which oppose the style of economic reforms introduced by Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to open the economy.
The leading left-wing party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), won 33 seats, more than half the leftist total, and its support will be critical to Gandhi’s survival.
COMMUNISTS KEY
Communist leaders say they are not opposed outright to all reforms. But they are against selling profitable state firms and want state workers consulted more, raising worries about the pace of privatising India’s inefficient and monolithic state firms.
CPM leaders were meeting in Delhi to discuss their next step.
It was Congress which broke India out of socialist-style economics more than a decade ago and the party has pledged to press ahead with the reforms needed to make Asia’s third-largest economy an economic superpower to rival China.
“I think if you look at the broad trajectory of the Indian economy, it has been unbroken by changes in government,” Craig Barrett, chief executive of Intel Corp, the world’s dominant chip maker, told Reuters in New York overnight.
However, the main Bombay stock index fell more than 2.5 percent in early trade on fears that privatisations would stall.
Without a clear majority for her own coalition, Gandhi also needs communist support to become prime minister rather than hand the job to a compromise candidate.
Congress MPs meet on Saturday to choose their parliamentary leader, who would be expected to head the new government. After the size of her win Gandhi is the clear front-runner.
Local media said moves were already under way on Friday to shift Gandhi’s belongings from the family home to the prime minister’s official residence, 7 Racecourse Road.
Although the BJP campaigned heavily on Gandhi’s foreign origin, voters overwhelmingly rejected this as a concern. Nor have the leaders of smaller parties so far raised it as an issue in forming a government over the next few days.
“The clearest message from the voters is that Mrs Gandhi’s foreign origin is not – and has not been – an issue,” said the Hindustan Times editorial. “There are no doubts that the prime ministership of the country is Mrs Gandhi’s for the taking.”
Gandhi’s victory marks the revival not just of Congress, out of power since 1996, but of the country’s first family, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that led India to independence in 1947 and ruled unchallenged for decades after.
Sonia’s son, Rahul, stood for parliament for the first time, easily winning his seat in the family borough in the “cow belt”, the northern heartland of the overwhelming mass of India’s rural poor.
Hectic parish-pump campaigning by Sonia, Rahul and Rahul’s sister, Priyanka, who were mobbed wherever they went, played a major role in reviving the party’s fortunes.
After rising to power on the back of a strong pro-Hindu campaign, 79-year-old Vajpayee put that on hold to seek the political centre ground with a focus on prosperity and peace when he called the election six months early.
Rather than rejecting economic reforms and India’s focus on the booming information technology and business outsourcing sectors, voters punished Vajpayee for failing to share the gains.
**Most of India’s hundreds of millions of rural poor have seen no benefit from surging economic growth, cheap loans and a liberalised economy with its flood of imported consumer goods.
That benefited mainly the urban middle class. For hundreds of millions of villagers, clean water, medical care, electricity, jobs and even enough food remain as much out of reach today as they were several years ago.**
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *
I don't see what teh problem is with Sonia becoming the PM. She has lived in India for 35 years and has Indian nationality. Whats the problem? Does it say in the Indian constitution that the PM has to be born in India or that a non hindu cannot become a PM?
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she will be facing a lot of criticism, mostly from her rivals and enemies who will make nationality an issue whenever she makes a mistake. the way to handle this is to be tough. most indians admire a forthright tough approach. if she can do that and make good decisions about the country she'll be queen.