The Meaning of the Verdict in the Recent Indian Parliament Elections
India is on a growth path, and a very stable Government at the centre will mean a great deal to the continuance to the policies of economic reforms in the past two decades. However, the verdit in the recent elections to the Lok Sabha, the forum that decides every single major decision affecting the lives of millions of people, is significant for several reasons. This article is an attempt to discuss some of these reasons.
Indian politicians have often taken the electorate for granted. They would make the tallest of promises at the time of elections, and then happily forget them the moment they win. They would do precious little for changing the lives of the very people who elected them in the first place.
However, the recent results to the Indian Parliament have proved several political pundits wrong. In fact, all opinion polls have been proved wrong.
The Indian National Congress has not only emerged much stronger than ever before, it has taught a lesson or two to the regional kings who thought that they could dictate terms to the former, by strengthening their own regional bases. This has just not happened. What has indeed happened is that the electorate has elected the Congress as the sole party at the National level, capable of delivering goods, through some meaningful policies.
A Vote For Stability
The Indian voter has really come of age. In the last election, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), of which the Congress is the major player, had to depend on the Communists for support. The Communists had over 50 representatives in the Indian Parliament. They started dictating terms, and even sought to bring down the Government over the Nuclear deal that the Indian Government signed with the United States. The Communists have always believed that the USA is the worst enemy of India, and that it is unwise to depend on the US for economic growth.
The confusion that arose in such circumstances, created instability. Today, the Congress does not need the communists at all. They can bring about growth by giving support to industrialization and investment in higher education. The Congress will be relatively free to do what they want.
This is exactly what is needed. The vote for stability is very much evident. The Communists have been defeated in the two vital States of Kerala in South India, and West Bengal in East India. In these two States, the communists have always been in power, and have tried to nullify the influence of the Congress and the other major National Party — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), through strategies that are famously called “strategies for inclusive growth”. These strategies are simple — there is not much industrialization, reforms in agriculture are more common, and huge masses of people enjoy the subsidies provided through the Public Distribution System. However, there is massive corruption at the execution points, and the poor do not always get what they are entitled to.
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