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From: debray@sbcs.UUCP (Saumya Debray)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Political maturity of the masses
Message-ID: <173@sbcs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 9-Mar-85 09:47:08 EST
Article-I.D.: sbcs.173
Posted: Sat Mar  9 09:47:08 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 12-Mar-85 20:05:26 EST
References: <2458@hplabsc.UUCP>
Organization: Computer Science Dept, SUNY@Stony Brook
Lines: 43

> 
> Here is a letter from an American-born professor who was in India
> at the time of the last elections.  You all might find it of interest.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> India and the U S
> 
> Sir, - As a political scientist - with the University of Washington -
> on my first visit to India, I have been amazed to witness at first
> hand, the virility and maturity of Indian democracy in the general
> elections. ...

Give me a break!  Does this guy have any idea of what factors influence joe
villager's vote?  Weighty non-issues such as the candidate's religion, caste,
community, mother tongue, and whether or not he pees facing the wind are
all important factors; thugs passing for "student leaders" are at their
persuasive best (count how many candidates died in pre-election violence
these recent assembly elections); and booth-capturing is common enough to
merit but passing mention in newspapers (yes, the last parliamentary
elections were remarkably free of this, but that, to me, speaks of good
organization, not necessarily of political maturity).

As an Indian, I'm proud of the fact that India is the world's largest
democracy, and a functioning democracy at that, despite all its poverty.
But it irks me that Indira Gandhi's defeat in the 1977 elections is seen by
some pundits as some sort of victory of Democracy and The Forces of Light
over Tyranny and The Forces of Darkness: she lost because nasbandhi wasn't
a hit with the people ... but you don't have to look at profound ideologies
for that, people can become surprisingly recalcitrant when threatened with
forcible sterilization!  Mrs. G. actually did pretty well in the
South, where Sanjay Gandhi's N-point programmes hadn't been quite so
harshly implemented.

I'm especially flabbergasted at talk of "political maturity" when political
nonentities like Amitabh Bachhan win landslide victories over veterans like
H N Bahuguna and Chandra Sekhar.  Whither maturity when the only factors
that matter are a celluloid reality and caste and party stickers?
-- 
Saumya Debray
SUNY at Stony Brook

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