Thursday, December 04, 2003

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State Elections in India

India is ruled by a large coalition of parties centred around the Hindu nationalist party BJP(Bhartiya Janata Party). Even using 'unbiased' liberal terminology, one can safely state that large sections of this coalition are fascist.

National elections are slated for next year, and a common progressive strategy has been to support the Congress party. Elections in a five states were held recently. In a major setback for progressive forces, the BJP emerged triumphant in three of them. Some detailed analysis may be found on Outlook India in this article.

What is the saving grace? As Mark Tully points out, in this BBC article, the BJP fought these elections on a 'development' platform in contrast to their standard ultra-nationalist anti-Muslim position. Also, three of the five new Chief ministers are women. This New York Times article has some discussion on the role of women in Indian politics.