[ OP-ED ]
The Atma of Politics
Singh is King!: The Verdict is in and India Reaffirmsits faith in Congress and the Gandhi Dynasty

PM Singh and Sonia Gandhi

Despite one of the worst terrorist attacks on Indian soil since partition and an ailing economy, both under their watch, the Congress party managed to bring about a sweeping victory in last month’s national elections. Along with its UPA allies, Congress soared in Lokh Sabha seats over the opposition BJP and NDA coalition and trampled over the Third Front coalition of leftists.

Nowhere was Congress’s success more evident than in West Bengal and Kerala, where the once dominant communist parties fell to the awesome wave of congress support. Even Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent to the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty managed to show his political skills and win his election content in the much needed state of Uttar Pradesh, where Congress had been struggling to gain some ground. His mother and Congress party chief, Sonia Gandhi, also won her contested seat and showed how, in many, the population was willing to accept this Italian-born, Indian citizen, to be its leader. She showed herself to be a versatile and skillful leader. Manmohan Singh has been re-elected as prime minister after completing his first full term in office. Such a feat has not been managed since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961. Moreover, it looks like given some restriction some of the previous leftist and coalition groups posed in the previous term, this time Congress will be able to move with a more progressive scheme without worries of the communist party threats because they have enough support internally as well as with other coalition partners.

Although the BJP and its allies took a severe loss overall, the party did manage to show its prowess in a few states, including the IT state of Karnataka, where in India’s Silicon Valley of Bangalore all the seats went to BJP. Further, the other Gandhi scion, Varun Gandhi, whose family broke away from the dynasty and cultivated loyalty to the BJP won his seat in Uttar Pradesh despite being accused of making incendiary comments about the Muslim Indian community. Nonetheless, the party was severely hurt by the election results and BJP leader L.K. Advani lost his last opportunity of taking the reigns as Prime Minister.

I had the opportunity to be in India right after the elections and when the results were been announced and one thing that I must say which I was surprised about was the relatively different opinions I had heard from people on the election outcome. It should have been much of a surprise given what a vibrant democracy India is, however, it seemed from old man to young child, from housewife to business executive, from student to mechanic, the voters had emotions which ranged from pure joy, to apathy, to bitter resent. More often than not I heard words of apathy and some apprehension of what the new government would accomplish.

However, it was a bit of a surprise to hear how many people said that despite Indian economy being hit in this global recession while Congress was in power and in spite of the Mumbai terror attacks which left over 163 innocent people dead and even with the fact that Sonia Gandhi is not an ethnic Indian and wasn’t born in India, the country as a whole felt that the Congress party was better suited to lead the nation out of these dismal economic times and protect the country from terrorism.

Some cited the fact that India has now been brought back into the fold of Nuclear countries under Prime Minister Singh’s leadership, others credit PM Singh with India’s economic reforms in the 1990’s and see his wisdom as the right path to success. Others still said that now is not the time for sectarian/ nationalist views to prevail over secular ideas of overall progress.

This consideration clearly being a reference to the general view that the BJP is a more right-wing, Hindu nationalist party and the Congress Party being viewed as more secular. However, the interesting paradox here is the history of the two parties on economics: whereby historically Congress has been known to be the more left leaning socialist party, the BJP had been seen as the party of major economic development in the mid to late 1990s and early in 2000. The country’s economic liberalization has been seen as key to development moving away from the state-run semi-socialist business model India had been following for decades.

But one thing is evident from this year’s elections in India as it had been for many in the U.S. during election season and beyond, hope is a very important part of the political process and more than some of the tangential issues that we often hear about in the news which stirs the hearts and mind of potential voters, the people are interested in a better tomorrow, for themselves and their children. Progress is the only way for people to secure their place in the world and whichever group is willing to help their nation attain such progress, the people will support.

The question now is, whether or not Congress should be able to deliver on its promises of a better and brighter future. The country has entrusted Prime Minister Singh, Party Leader Sonia Gandhi and the Congress-led Coalition UPA government to lead, protect and improve India’s position in the world and within. We cannot forget that millions of those who voted this year are socially and economically disadvantaged and they are looking for leadership to look out for them as well. In the end, India is a nation for all, not some. “Jana, Mana, Gana- Satyameva Jayate!”

Dev B Viswanath is practicing attorney who is currently hosting a weekly political show called Desis & Politics which airs on Saturdays at 8:30am and repeated on Sunday at 10:00 am on ITV/ ITV GOLD in NY, NJ, and Conn. On Time Warner Cable (Channel 77 or 563), in NY and NJ on Cablevision (Channel 244), and in NY, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia on RCN (Channel 476) You can also watch previously aired programs at http://www.itvonweb.com/. Please feel free to email Dev with your comments or suggestions at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[DEV B VISWANATH ]