Indian politics, current events and history

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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In response to Anaamika’s request in a thread that I can’t find, and in parallel to this thread on Candian politics, I bring to you the all-singing, all-dancing, Bollywood-style thread on Indian politics and current events!

Well, no, not really, but I hope that a common thread for all these topics will have more chance of survival than individual threads; I just know those would sink with astonishing rapidity…

I’ve been following Indian politics with a mixture of amazement, bewilderment and despair since I was old enough to understand what was going on around me (I think the first big political event that really registered with me was Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991) and even though I’m living in London at the moment, I do keep in touch with news back home.

One of the things I have been seeing with a touch of despair over the last few years has been the gradual drift of politics to the right, to the point where previosuly unthinkable political situations have turned out to be not quite as unthinkable as all that. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has recently formed a goverment in Karnataka (my home state, as it happens). Fifteen years ago, the BJP was a non-entity in south Indian politics, although it did have a strong presence in the north. Increasingly, however, Hindu nationalism has become a central theme in most of the country, which to me is very disturbing.

I think India is also struggling with a lot of rapid social and economic change, which is creating both astonishing wealth and a rapidly increasing gap between the rich and the poor.

I’ll post stories into this thread as I find them, and am happy to answer questions to discuss anything that seems relevant.

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How did I miss this?

Ok, well, didn’t the BJP lose power recently for the first time in several years? Weren’t they in power throughout the 80s? And weren’t they almost directly behind the bombings and trouble in Bombay, and not the Muslims (though they responded in kind) as told?

Weren’t they also the ones behind the Babri Masjid mess?

I read Maximum City by Suketu Mehta and while I enjoyed it greatly, I was really thoroughly surprised at how much corruption there is in Bombay. People just don’t seem to have any concept of the long-term. Does the Indian government have a concept or are they just as clueless?

I see all the time ads for helping India’s ills such as overpopulation. The government is behind most of these, are they not? I am surprised that the BJP would do anything. I never had a very good impression of the BJP, to be honest.

I see in news articles that India’s educational levels have dropped like a rock. Is the government instituting any policies to help with this?

Anything else you want to share will be great, and I’ll have more questions. I may not be around that much this weekend but next week especially I hope to be in here a lot.

Thanks for starting this thread!

Oh, yeah, I see this on Wiki:

The Preamble lays down the type of government that India has adopted - Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic.

Interesting to say the least! I will come back after I have a more firm grasp of the basics of Indian government at the very least.

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Thanks for this thread - it should be interesting.

I belong to a cancer message board based in the UK but with English-speaking members from all over the world.

One of our Indian members posted this earlier today and I found it hard to believe as most pix I see of India are of the extremes: wealth or grinding poverty. Are both groups (and the vast in-between) equally given the medical care described?

Is there truth in his claim? “So cheap that anyone can afford it?”

Thanks!

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You didn’t, actually, because I only just started it. :slight_smile:

Actually, no. The BJP was part of the previous central government but lost to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2004. The BJP is in power in several states, but is in the opposition at the Centre (as the national government is commonly called). The BJP has only formed a goverment at the national level three times: 1996, 1998-99 and 1999-2004. The BJP has had a gradual rise in popularity since its formation in 1980, but didn’t have enough support to form a central government until the mid-90s. At the state level, the BJP either rules or is involved in a coalition government in several states: Bharatiya Janata Party - Wikipedia

The violence in Mumbai and Gujarat was certainly helped, in my opinion, by the right-wing anti-Muslim stance of the BJP and its more active Hindu nationalist political allies, but whether they are directly responsible is a question I don’t feel qualifed to answer.

The BJP was certainly behind the Babri Masjid mess in 1992, when the mosque was demolished by a large number of “kar-sevaks” - those who offer their services for free, a common euphimism for grass-roots Hindu nationalist workers.

I think that’s a hard question to answer. Indian politics is undoubtedly corrupt (some would say rotten to the core) and while there are a few staunch politicians who seem to have unimpeachable integrity and are capable of planning for the future, there is a unfortunate proportion of greedy, grasping, criminal politicians who are in it to make a quick buck or merely wield power for its own sake.

I’m more centrist in my politics than the BJP, so your impression is something I agree with. The government certainly has many large schemes for dealing with overpopulation and poverty, which have met with mixed success, partly due to corruption.

I’d be interested to see these articles. This is an impression I have also gathered, but I’m not aware of any schemes at the moment to try and turn this around, unfortunately.

You’re welcome! You should be aware the the word “Socialist” in the Constitution was inserted in the 42nd Amendment, under somewhat controversial circumstances. Whether Indian politics is truly socialist, particularly in the last couple of decades, is open for debate, I think.

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Government hospitals in India run on a combination of donations, government grants and income from patients. Some are essentially free, with quality of care ranging from the excellent to the disturbingly mediocre. So yes, there is truth in his claim, although it might not be of the quality that you are accustomed to.

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Today’s big story of the day revolves around the Left parties, who are supporting the central government coalition “from outside”, mulling the withdrawal of that support over a planned US-Indian civilian nuclear deal.

The Communist parties in India have long held a virulently anti-US stance, and this latest cozying up of the government pleases them not at all. Personally, I think the deal is a good idea, because it allows the transfer of civilian nuclear technology to India, and energy is something that is already in short supply, likely to be getting shorter very soon.

Withdrawal of support would mean that unless the central government can find some new allies, early elections might be called. Elections were due in May of next year anyway, but this isn’t a particularly good time for the Congress to be courting the electorate, who have recently been annoyed by high inflation, particularly around fuel prices. We’ll have to see what happens, but I’m in favour of the current government and particularly the current Prime Minister, so I’m hoping the Communists don’t do anything silly to precipitate early elections.

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So… the inevitable has happened, and the Left has withdrawn support, leaving the central government 46 MPs short of a majority in the lower house of Parliament. However, it appears that they have got (surprisingly) support from a traditional enemy, which will, I hope, allow them to keep going until the next election. I’m somewhat concerned that the new member of the coalition might resort to blackmail - much as the Left parties did - in order to grab as much of the political cake as they possibly can. It’s going to be interesting to see how this pans out now, and there’s always the possibility that the government might be faced with a no-confidence motion. I’m very keen to see this government complete its term, and hopefully without the burden of having to pander to the left-leaning allies, they can press ahead with reforms.