From an article written by Ramachandra Guha on BBC news site.
In the first weeks of 1967, the Times of London dispatched a reporter to cover the Indian elections. Travelling around the country, he saw – or thought he saw – a mood of apathy and helplessness.
Some Indians he talked to had expressed a “readiness for the rejection of parliamentary democracy”. The journalist himself was dismayed by the conflict and the corruption. He could spy “the already fraying fabric of the nation itself”, with the states “already beginning to act like sub-nations”.
We still behave like sub-nations and treat the victorious as kings. Karunanidhi openly expressing his desire to have his family members in the cabinet and those victorious eyeing for greater power. The states fight like dogs over a loaf of bread, this happening within a country is disheartening. Although I am not a supporter of the Congress, it is very good for the country to have one party as the majority. Decisions will be made faster, although its implementation would never be on time. Having a single party rule at the center is vital for a country like India, there would be no outward pull in different directions from different parties. Congress has won and has made a roaring come back. The reason being Rahul Gandhi’s idea to go ahead with Uttar pradesh and other states as a solo team, Manmohan Singh”s calm approach to all the heap of comments on him and Sonia Gandhi’s shadow rule of India. Sonia’s impressive win in Rae Baerali shows the people support for her.
BJP on the other hand has lost miserably with L. K. Advani deciding to resign the leader of the opposition post. His last chance of being the Prime Minister in shambles. Modi is a capable administrator, the PM in waiting but his administrative skills are being overshadowed by the attack on Muslims. The 2009 results has one thing to say, as long as any party indicates religion as its main color, people would hesitate to vote for it. People are pushing forward for development, growth and I hope the next elections would have more sensible voters with caste, money and religion out of its way.
Irrespective of whether Congress is good for the country or not, its good for a country to have a single party in power. Where India establishes in this world in the next 10 years could very well be sculpted in the next 5 yearsof the UPA rule.
Although I feel that congress is not good for the country, it is best to have one party dominating the results. It is best to the country to have such a one sided result. There are two reasons for this,
1. Developments, changes, aggressive plans can now be initiated and would not need the opinion of the parties
2. Any failure would now be the responsibility of one party, the blame game would stop
More comments and reactions of people from around the world -
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6445&edition=2&ttl=20090517174645
Posted on May 17, 2009
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