|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 14 May 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Congress sweeps to power NEW DELHI, Thursday (Reuters, AFP)
India's Gandhi family swept back to power on Thursday on a stunning wave of anger among millions of rural poor, who felt left behind by the country's economic boom and voted out the Hindu nationalist government. Sonia Gandhi, in her first reaction since her Congress party swept to power in India, said Thursday she would form a "strong, stable and secular government." "Over the next few days the process of government formation will gather momentum," Gandhi told a press conference. "The Congress party will take the lead to ensure that our country has a strong stable and secular government at the earliest," she said. Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi and her children, Rahul and Priyanka, the new faces of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, could take power by next week. "A... secular coalition led by Congress should take the oath in the next few days," party spokeswoman Ambika Soni said. However, a Congress coalition is likely to have to depend on the support of leftist parties, who registered their best performance yet. Analysts said that the new government was likely to continue the reforms crucial for Asia's third-largest economy, but that they might have to be redesigned to ensure benefits percolated down to the poor and were not restricted to the urban upper classes. Congress was written off before the poll which Vajpayee called early to cash in on a surging economy, good monsoons and peace prospects with Pakistan. But strong campaigning by the Gandhis, who drew massive crowds, and resentment that the benefits of growth and economic reforms were not reaching ordinary Indians revived the party. "I am half heart-broken and half-stunned," said BJP senior official and campaign strategist Pramod Mahajan. Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies lost more than a hundred seats in the 545-member parliament. As officials downloaded the 370 million votes cast on electronic machines over the phased three-week poll, Congress workers crowded into the party headquarters in New Delhi, dancing in the streets and beating drums. Financial markets, which had tumbled on fears that Vajpayee would squeak back at the head of an unstable coalition, reversed early losses as the size of the Congress win became clear. "The power shift has taken place. It is curtains for the... (government)," Bhaskar Rao, chairman of the Centre of Media Studies in New Delhi, told Reuters. Congress's strong performance, defying poll forecasts that the BJP would remain the largest party in parliament, appears to firm Sonia Gandhi's claim on the prime ministership, despite her Italian birth. In an election where national issues were sometimes overshadowed by local concerns and state politics, major Congress gains in the large southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu proved critical to the party's turnaround. Vajpayee's biggest ally was thrown out of office in Andhra Pradesh on Monday in a landslide state election loss after his campaign slogan of "India Shining" failed to win poor farmers. The upset for the pro-reform BJP initially shocked markets on Thursday, driving shares down to a five-month low and the rupee to its weakest since January. But as Congress, the party that kicked off the reforms a decade ago, extended its gains, markets turned bullish. "Fears of a hung parliament have receded, and the market doesn't really care who forms the government, the Congress or the BJP, as long as it is a stable government which doesn't get dissolved six months down the line," said Dharmesh Mehta, broking chief at Enam Securities. Vajpayee, 79, put the BJP's hardline Hindu agenda on the backburner and campaigned heavily on a strong economy, low interest rates and the prospects of peace with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan after they came close to war two years ago. But the economic benefits have failed to reach the hundreds of millions living in crushing poverty in rural India, where electricity, jobs and clean water are still luxuries. And it is rural Indians who turned out to vote in decisive numbers, not the burgeoning middle class that has been the main winner from the boom, cheap loans and an opening economy. "What 'India Shining' are we talking about? We are dying hungry here," said Santram, a farmer just 70 km (45 miles) from the gleaming new malls of the capital. While Vajpayee campaigned on his nascent peace initiative with Pakistan, Congress is committed to continuing the process. But Gandhi has yet to establish Vajpayee's personal rapport with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Foreign-born Gandhi would face more difficulties in making concessions to Pakistan and a harder time getting hardliners on board at home. The count is the culmination of a mammoth logistics effort across the world's second most populous country, where more than 670 million people were eligible to vote. Polling was held in five stages over three weeks to allow time to move one million officials and tens of thousands of police and troops around the almost 700,000 polling stations. The "tamper-proof" voting machines were delivered to remote parts of the huge country by elephants, camels, boats and helicopters and were secured by armed guards after use. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
