Result 2009

Shoaib,

good piece of writing! Political articles have a dangerous tendency to get boring after two paragraphs, but this one is definitely not one among them.

Personally, being from Bengal, I don't quite know what to make out this result..I am glad at the decline of the left front, as it had become a huge stalemate in every sense of the word, but, having said so, Mamata Banerjee isn't exactly a sane person, let alone an astute politician. Till now her and her party's only agenda was opposing the Left Front, and so they have done with success, but now what? saying no to everything is easier than taking the next step, I guess. Furthermore, take away Mamata, and what does the Trinamool congress have left? How does one envision a one-woman government, that too as hot-headed and stubborn like her?


overall, I am really happy that the Indian public didn't choose BJP, which would only have resulted in a more polarised India.

It was a quite a shock for BJP and they have a bit of reconciliation ahead. I would like to see BJP as a formidable opponent, if not the future governing party itself. As someone said earlier, BJP failed to uphold it's election promises of uniform civil code and article 370 last time and on the economic front it's not that different than congress. I hope that they reinvent themselves as a modern and pragmatic party and induce young blood by, either retiring the old cadre or engaging educated, middle class youth.

Thanks for the article. WRT Bengal, you are right. But you have to remember, the Bengali makes the Bihari look smart. The only time the Bengali would not vote for the worst political partty in the Indian Union would be when a worse party comes along. Not to worry, Mamta Bannerjee will lose when enough Bangladeshis have citizenship and they will vote for Golam Azam.

BJP is a spent force in the short term. Advani Uncle, the 81 year old should have taken sanyas along with Vajpayee. Khair, it will be a mistake to project Modi. Arun Jaitley is a better person as PM candidate.

Ext-a-see,

Thanks and can't agree with you more on Mamatadi.

Kedar,

Yup, the BJP is needed because the Congress, when it gets too much power, can cause more harm than most to the country. Unfortunately, the BJP will have to go for a full-on overhaul for it to positively check the Cong.

Stuka,

Who is Golam Azam?

Ghulam Azam (Bengali: গোলাম আযম) (born 7 November 1922), is a Bangladeshi political leader. The former Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, he opposed the independence of Bangladesh upon its liberation on December 16 1971, and was a permanent resident of England until 1978, and was forced to maintain Pakistani citizenship until 1994 due to the decision by the Bangladeshi government at the time to refuse him citizenship. In 1994, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to restore his citizenship of Bangladesh as a matter of birth-right.[1] He was leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000.[2]

Thanks wiki. He's one of those people that Hasina would like to see punished as a traitor to the Bengali nation.

Full marks to Sonia Gandhi. She took care of the politics while leaving ManMohan to concentrate on the job of running the country. As a result we had a working government

The biggest winner(s) in the Indian Elections are

(a) The Election Commission of India: huge task, well done, well managed, and the counting of votes absolutely amazing
(b) The Grace of the electorate: peaceful, even the PM was in queue for casting his vote
(c) The grace of the Parties in accepting the verdict of the polls, and the graciousness towards each other


It is for these reasons you have to admire Indian Politics - the politicians are venal lot, maybe corrupt as anyone else around the world and worse, but some basic rules are played out.

congrats to our fellow indians, you are heading in the right direction. good luck !!

yar this trinamool name cracks me up..i mean a literal translation of grassroot? could not she come up with something original bangali thingy? the name is a shame for land of tagore.

Good job in conducting peaceful elections in India. And even better - the middle-of-the-road party wins!

jang,

couldn't agree with you more. the name and the insignia both could have been better.

But i guess miss Banerjee targets the masses as the major chunk of her voters, and having such a mundane name, probably reaches out to them better- and as an afterthought, no one cares for a name, its only what your constituency leader is doing in that small sphere that wins votes.

Jang,

yar this trinamool name cracks me up..i mean a literal translation of grassroot?

Trinamool means grassroot? Seriously? How?

@shoaib

Trina-grass; mool-roots. :)