Friday, May 14, 2004

The election aftermath

The elections in India are over. Astrologers and psephologists were again seen as clueless in their own supposed fields of expertise. Sonia Gandhi will most definitely be the Prime Minister of India. Newspapers around the world waxed eloquent about the vibrant Indian democracy and how the people of India taught a fitting lesson to the 'Hindu Nationalist' party. Arundhati Roy made a tidy sum of money for herself by bringing the attention of the readers of the Guardian to the plight of the poor in India. Well, to each person his thought!

I still find it amazing that after fifty years of Indian independence, the Indian voters were stupid or liberal enough (I don't know which!) to elect a party that had a political and administrative novice as its leader. Sonia Gandhi is not an Indian; that is a whole different can of worms. But that aside, she has no experience in politics and administration other than being the widow of yet another member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Administering India is no joke. One needs a lot of experience like Narasimha Rao or Vajpayee to be able to lead a nation. But then, who cares about administering a country ? I don't know what these people really think of themselves. I sincerely hope that the advisors of Sonia are experienced administrators.

Many Indians (both in India and abroad) have been crying hoarse about Sonia's ascension to the top post of the land. Some of the reasons are as follows:
1. Sonia, being a non-native Indian, as PM can easily jeopardize India's internal security
2. The whole ignominy of picking up a person of non-Indian origin when there were so many qualified politicians
3. Conspiracy theories about her non-Hindu (especially Catholic) origins causing religious strife in India
4. Her being a novice in Politics and Administration

Some people are going to the extreme extent of leaving India or not visiting India at all. I for one, am not so happy about the results, but I don't think that the situation is so dire. India is too big a country to be ruined by a bunch of nincompoops. Also, not all people in the new administration are nincompoops. Yes there are Laloo and Mulayam, but there are also Manmohan Singh, Sam Pitroda, Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh. So, it is not all that bad. Moreover, we should remember that it was the Congress that actually initiated the economic reforms responsible for India Shining on the economic front. So, I hope some of that is still sticking with the Congress.

What I cannot stomach is the presence of the Communists. Communism is not suitable for a society such as India. Moreover, the Communists in India are not the least bit patriotic. They have been known to support powers such as China and the former Soviet Union over their own country. They want to destroy individual enterprise and haul India's progress back by a hundred years. Communism is good for a uniform society and not for a society as diverse as India. This is just to show my distaste for things Communist. I feel that Communism breeds Corruption for all the benefits it can bring to the 'worker comrades'.

The Missionary-Mullah-pseudo-secular triumvirate is becoming more powerful. Indians can refuse to recognize them at their own peril. More about this later.

Anyway, these were some of my thoughts on this occasion. My prayers are with and for India and her people. I hope the Congressmen have the good sense to continue the good work started by themselves and continued by the NDA and not be shackled by the communists.

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