Sonia Ghandi's party wins upset victory in India.

I'm surprised. I thought Vajpayee was a shoo-in because of the booming economy, but according to the NY Times, he suffered a "resounding defeat." I don't know all that much about Indian politics, but I think this is good news, being a defeat for Hindu fundamentalism and ultranationalism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/13/international/asia/13CND-INDI.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=


May 13, 2004
In Huge Upset, Gandhi's Party Wins Election in India
By AMY WALDMAN

NEW DELHI, May 13 — Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned this evening after his ruling coalition suffered a resounding defeat in parliamentary elections, party officials said today.

The Indian National Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, emerged as the single largest party in the poll results announced today. It appeared poised to form the country's next government with the likely support of its electoral allies and the country's Communist parties.

It is not yet certain — although it seems likely — that Mrs. Gandhi herself will stake claim to be prime minister, since even some of the party's allies have questioned whether a woman of non-Indian origin should lead this nation of more than 1 billion people.

Still, the verdict represents a totally unexpected resurrection for the Congress Party of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, which ruled India for 45 of the 57 years since independence but had floundered so badly in recent years that it was being written off as an historical relic....

they are generally rigged and corrupt...

on edit: congress party just as bad as bjp.

as a party of fundamentalists who seemed to encourage anti-Muslim feeling--and action?

the bjp has just been more successful. seriously there is no real difference in the two.

the congress party plays one group against the other. the bjp only caters to hindus.

on edit: the bjp has been so successful because of the existing povery that the congress did nothing about ....i mean theres a long history of hindu-muslim violence since the british in india...but imho congress or bjp they are equally malevolent

among other things.

Congress promotes tolerance of differences, the BJP does quite the opposite. It's huge from a symbolic and culutural perspective.

Just because one can argue that the two parties might be equivalently corrupt, does not mean that there are not differences in what they stand for and represent.

Finally Dec 6, 1992 takes a back seat to humanity.

destroy India. Let's remember that. I have no sympathy for Muslim Fundimentalist Terrorists or Terrorists of any kind for that matter.

Still I am pleased to see that one more REICH WING PARTY has been outed!

The BJP, according to people like Eric Margolis, is a Reichstag Fire away from being a bunch of fascists.

while some may say the two parties are the same. the bjp very much is infected with right wing religious hateful fanaticism.

There is no doubt that the Indian economy has done very well of late, but the primary beneficiaries have been the rich and the urban middle class. The less privileged outnumber the middle classes by a big margin," says Professor Varshney.

He reckons the middle and richer urban classes, the beneficiaries of economic reforms and the greatest supporters of the BJP, "stayed home", whereas the less privileged and the minorities "stepped out in large numbers to vote".

Political commentator Harish Khare agrees, saying the extent of the BJP-led coalition's defeat showed the government had followed "anti-people economics" with its programme of reforms.

"The question is not whether economic reforms will continue. The question is about ways and means of making reforms meaningful for the poor and the dispossessed," he says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3711395.stm

when people were afraid that Pakistand and India were going to exhange nuclear bombs.

The USA still hates women. In the US, the idea of a woman becoming President is still in 1492 mentallity.

Mrs. Gandhi, per PBS radio, was a fearless campaigner. Vajpayee's campaign used TV ads using the growth of wealth in the country. Mrs. Gandhi used the ad to her advantage; showing the poverty growth in the country. Vajpayee campaign ala bush, scripted and staged. Mrs. Gandhi took her campaign directly to the public. She forced poor people to rise and to vote for their benefit and their future, and not for Vajpayee continued support of the already rich.

The USA still hates women. In the US, the idea of a woman becoming President is still in 1492 mentality.

Mrs. Gandhi, per PBS radio, was a fearless campaigner. Vajpayee's campaign used TV ads using the growth of wealth in the country. Mrs. Gandhi used the ad to her advantage; showing the poverty growth in the country. Vajpayee campaign ala bush, scripted and staged. Mrs. Gandhi took her campaign directly to the public. She forced poor people to rise and to vote for their benefit and their future, and not for Vajpayee continued support of the already rich.

The USA still hates women. In the US, the idea of a woman becoming President is still in 1492 mentality.

Mrs. Gandhi, per PBS radio, was a fearless campaigner. Vajpayee's campaign used TV ads using the growth of wealth in the country. Mrs. Gandhi used the ad to her advantage; showing the poverty growth in the country. Vajpayee campaign ala bush, scripted and staged. Mrs. Gandhi took her campaign directly to the public. She forced poor people to rise and to vote for their benefit and their future, and not for Vajpayee continued support of the already rich.

The USA still hates women. In the US, the idea of a woman becoming President is still in 1492 mentality.

Mrs. Gandhi, per PBS radio, was a fearless campaigner. Vajpayee's campaign used TV ads using the growth of wealth in the country. Mrs. Gandhi used the ad to her advantage; showing the poverty growth in the country. Vajpayee campaign ala bush, scripted and staged. Mrs. Gandhi took her campaign directly to the public. She forced poor people to rise and to vote for their benefit and their future, and not for Vajpayee continued support of the already rich.

its a defeat for facism

I think this is good news, being a defeat for Hindu fundamentalism and ultranationalism.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


I was hoping for this. I now know that the vote isn't always rigged in every country. Quite a good day today is, in India and the rest of the world.

Right-wing nationalism is floundering! Countries and their voting
populations are returning to the tenets of sanity and progressive
liberalism once more. With what happened in Spain first, now India, I
have high hopes for both the UK & the US (although admittedly the most
cautious hopes here in the US) to follow suit in the upcoming
elections in both countries.