Forging new path ahead

President Barack Obama said that he found India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a "wise man" and that he hopes to visit India soon. Indo-US relations saw a new high during Singh's previous reign with the signing of the historic Nuclear Deal, a big reason, which attributed to the success of Congress party in the recent Parliamentary elections. Obama's new policies might be dubbed protectionist with restrictions on hiring H1B workers but the fact remains that given the changing world dynamics it's impossible for both the powers to ignore each-other's strengths.

Another reason that can be attributed to Congress's win in the general election was a political confrontation devoid of the kind of emotional content, which its principal opponent, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), customarily exploits on such occasions. As a result, the normality of the contest meant that the BJP couldn't whip up what it likes to term nationalistic sentiments in its favor. BJP tried various religious, pro-Hindu tacks such as promising to build the Ram temple or saving the Ram Sethu. None of the above worked because these issues have become dated and voters have realized these are just cynical electoral ploys.

However, losing the terror card hurt the BJP the most. BJP's other gambits also failed, especially L.K. Advani's repeated attempts to portray Manmohan Singh as "weak".

Congress won because BJP's prospects were damaged by - lack of its favorite atavistic planks, advanced age of its prime ministerial candidate, reckless propaganda which included Advani's threat to conduct a nuclear test which would have meant scuttling the nuclear deal and, above all, the recourse to hardliner Hindutva policies probably to compensate for the loss of the temple and terror cards. The comfortable victory of Congress and its partners in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) means it no longer needs the help of the Left, whose ideological quirks caused enough trouble to the government last year on the nuclear deal.

Post elections it is introspection time for BJP. Much to the chagrin of hardcore BJP voters which gave clear majority to the party in Gujarat thanks to its dynamic leader Narendra Modi, the party veterans didn't think twice before blaming it all on the idea of projecting Modi as the next Prime Ministerial candidate.

It would be foolhardy to think that a nation of one billion would reject a party because its publicized prime ministerial candidate is projected anti-Muslim by a section of the media despite having an impeccable record of driving his state's growth by phenomenal proportion and being voted in twice by overwhelming majority.

For next five years India hopes to see rapid growth with a stable government so a huge task ahead for the new government.

- Editor