Inspired by Obama, Indian voters opted for quieter politics, stability and secularism

Ravi Matah - Keeping an eye on India

This last Saturday the results of millions of votes cast in the world’s largest democracy finally came in. And when the dust settled from a four-phased election in a nation with over 740 million registered voters, the opposition lay shattered.

No one had expected India’s Congress party to sweep the election with such a large margin and analysts are wondering what hit the opposition. The short answer is that India voted for secularism, stability, the calm leadership of PM Dr. Manmohan Singh and a trusted economic platform.

What also shattered the opposition’s hopes of undermining the ruling Congress party was the fact that people simply found personal attacks distasteful, particularly against the soft-spoken, scholarly Singh who has led India quietly into superpower status both militarily and economically.

Economic stability in a time of global financial Tsunami was important to the middle and upper class. Programs aimed at helping the poor – such as a proposed food law and guaranteed employment for 100-days per year – worked well to entice Indians at the lower spectrum of earnings.

The Indian election outcome was a perfect illustration of the fact that voters are not going to be fooled by personal attacks, which they find diversionary and destructive. These personal attacks, thrown around rampantly by the opposition members aspiring to be PM of the largest democracy in the world backfired significantly in this election. Attack politics backfired because voters found the opposition had no real economic model to put before them.

India went to the polls after the completion of the last five year term of Congress rule headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the quiet, unassuming economist – a man turned politician by the hand of fate. The United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress won a resounding victory in the elections. They left the non-secular BJP and its allies in disarray and totally clueless.

This vote meant that the electorate wanted a stable Government at the helm. The Minister of Science and Technology said and I quote, “This is a vote for Sonia Gandhi (party President) and Manmohan Singh’s leadership. People have voted for a stable Government, they want a Prime Minister who thinks for the country”

The general election-2009 was perhaps one of the most important since independence.  It will chart the course for the future of India as the younger generation look forward to prosperity and India heads into the new world order with the hope of taking one of the top spots for economic and military power.

What was even more heartening was the fact that the youth in particular were so eager to vote. There were 40.3 million internet-savvy,  first time voters in this election, who constituted nearly 13 per cent of the electorate and they were well-prepared – with their homework done on who they could trust and who holds the most promise for a younger India thrusting forward.

There were two main parties – the Congress and the BJP as well as a third front. For those who broke away from the Congress, there was disaster waiting. The poll results showed it.

The Congress led UPA got close to the magic number (272) and won 262 seats, the BJP led NDA a dismal 157 and the CPM led Third front 67 seats. As of now the Congress led faction does not need any help from CPM led third front which had last year ditched the Congress on the issue of the nuclear deal with US. (The vote for Congress has also been interpreted as support for the new high points reached in India’s dealings with the U.S. in the field of nuclear power and global strategic alliance.)

Much faith was put by voters in the fact that Dr. Manmohan Singh helped India remain calm during the crisis caused by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. While the opposition was more interested in sabre-rattling, the Congress soothed Indians and embarked on an international political approach rather than military confrontation to build a global consensus to put pressure on Pakistan to act on terrorists havens in that country. This was seen by the electorate as a sign of quiet strength and oppositional war mongering was seen as reckless.

Adding to this was the impressive economic record of Dr. Singh’s economic team that has managed  to keep the country afloat during the global recession with the inflation as low as 0.27% and the GDP above 6.5% growth level .

The Indian electorate is much more aware of the global picture, the internet has made sure of that. The last American election was seen by the electorate as a lesson in clean politics – from the Obama side. And that “yes, we can” attitude was pervasive among Indian voters as well.

About Ravi: Writer and blogger in India. he worked for the Central government as an administrative officer for 30 years. Ravi is a cricket fan, an avid reader and a news enthusiast. He has written articles on Mother Teressa and Diana Spencer which were published in local newspapers. His articles have also appeared in the  Hindi-language  magazine named ‘Ashmika’. Ravi will write a weekly blog here – and more often if a situation warrants – and keep an eye on India for Vancouverite.

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Posted by Ravi Matah on May 18 2009. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry