Comments on: Development, Development, What Development?

By: Badri Seshadri

Badri Seshadri — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 11:03:06 +0000

AK: The Parties in Karnataka and Bihar are different. The Karnataka Party headed by Deve Gowda is called Janata Dal (S) - S standing for secular, that magic word in India. The Bihar party in which Nitish Kumar is a senior leader is called Janata Dal (U), U for united.

But once upon a time, not too far back, S & U were united and considered themselves secular. Of course, before the union, they were split, before which they were united (as Janata Dal), and this goes on and on!

U is not considered secular enough since they dally around with BJP. S is not at all united… since just a few months back they split further with Deve Gowda chucking a very senior leader called Siddharamaiah (who was at that time the Deputy Chief Minister of the state) - a lower caste leader, in order to push his own son.

Following Indian politics is more fun than following Indian cricket!

By: Nanda Kishore

Nanda Kishore — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 08:36:41 +0000

Reuben, I think our politics not being based on ideology may be a blessing in disguise, considering our socialist experience ;) I don’t think either the BJP or the Congress is going to oppose important bills to the point where they have to be shelved. Yes, there will be much sabre rattling, but that is for public consumption and posturing. Even the left cannot go on sabotaging all reform, considering Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is taking a radical departure from the official party line in Bengal.

By: Ila Bhat

Ila Bhat — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 15:40:31 +0000

Reuben,
The vicious personality driven nature of indian politics is responsible for the bjp not supporting the upa on issues it conceptualised like vat etc. if there was greater maturity on the part of both the cong and the bjp to set political or idealogical agendas then national interest would take precedence. that congress folk still talk on tv about the bihar victory of communal forces is bizarre when you consider that jdu won votes from across the communal and caste spectrum ! witness brinda karat shrieking about anything the bjp does and you know what i mean. the visceral hatred exhibited prevents each from acknowledging the good in the other. how then can a country progress? i dont know about any of you but i am licking my lips at the thought of K J Raos activities in West Bengal next year . Take on the comrades, Mr Rao, I just cannot wait !!

By: Aniruddh Gupta

Aniruddh Gupta — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 08:09:37 +0000

What this implies is that after 15 years, Bihar is going to have an effective change in government. It’s heartening not because the new government will necessarily be better (though it can hardly be worse), but because it seems that for the first time, the people of Bihar have not voted ‘along caste lines.’ I put the latter in quotes because they may still have done that in part, but they have rejected Laloo’s theory that governance does not matter so long as he is perceived as a messiah for the lower castes. This result, combined with the NDA’s own defeat last year, may constitute a turning point for the country. Several politicians, specially those on the Left, had interpreted NDA’s defeat last year as a signal to roll back on economic reforms, saying that the reforms had not reached the poor. This result, should make our politicians aware that a population condemned to years of stagnant growth will ultimately throw out the government - whether or not that population is poor. It should also signal to the politicians that the time may have come to tone down the caste rhetoric during elections - as the country develops and people see what is possible through economic reform, caste equations will matter less and less, and governance will matter more and more.

By: sv

sv — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 06:57:14 +0000

There are some positive signs. This guy Kumar seems to be honest and has just one kid! Compared to Laloo, looks like Kumar is a huge, huge improvement. I hope the congress can set aside their politics and work with Kumar to improve things in Bihar on a war footing.

By: Reuben Abraham

Reuben Abraham — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 05:30:39 +0000

AK, I don’t think there’s an Indian political party out there that actually has an ideology. They’re all about political expediency and doing and saying whatever will win them votes. So, I don’t think there is any point in looking for clues on how Kumar will behave from Gowda’s antics in Karnataka.

The possibility of a turn-around in Bihar is pretty slim, but one can always hope…

By: AK

AK — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 04:38:55 +0000

I’m not really that familiar with Indian politics, so please forgive my ignorance, but this alliance deal bugs me. According to wikipedia, this the same party that has provided Bangalore with local anti-development favorite Deve Gowda. What is the party’s ideology, where does Kumar stand on these issues? Is Bihar going to see actualy infrastructure development, better schools and more police officers, or instead are we going to see more political pandering?

By: Rahul M

Rahul M — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:27:37 +0000

I wish Nitish Kumar all the best. I hope he should make some changes to the Police which is almost defunct and do something about those local goondas.
As for Paswan, I feel hes damaged his reputation by not moving in with the JD(U). He should have done that long back in Feb.(his intentions were very honest though he didnt have the muscle to have a CM from his party)

By: DesiPundit » Bihar Politi-scape

DesiPundit » Bihar Politi-scape — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:03:14 +0000

[...] cape

Neha on 11.22.05 in Politics at 3:00 pm

The Bihar elections have changed political equations in the belt. Reube [...]

By: Reuben Abraham

Reuben Abraham — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:01:26 +0000

Patel,
You’re right. I have often wondered why the BJP doesn’t offer a helping hand to the Congress on crucial reforms (labour/infrastructure/power) that they broadly agree on, which would allow Messrs Singh/Chidambaram to bypass the left on occasion. As I have mentioned on this blog once before, the trouble with opposition parties in India is that they take the term too literally and don’t seem to understand the concept of constructive opposition.