Six weeks have lapsed since the surprise result of the general election. India’s democracy again proved more remarkable than most. Its electorate chose stable governance over communalism, communism, and crypto-fascism. In the aftermath of their debacles the BJP, Left and rump parties must introspect and rethink the inadequacy of their party leaderships and their raison d’etre. What do they stand for? Does it resonate with voters; male, female, poor, rich, urban, rural, northern, southern, Dalit, Brahmin, Hindu or non?

Sophisticated prior psephology indicated a close contest. It proved wrong with the margin of UPA victory. Reams have been written about what the outcome was attributable to. Was it the PM, the Regent, the Crown Prince or the Whole Trinity? Was it the potent techno-political Singh-Sonia duo that permitted the dirt of typical politics to be separated from the relative hygiene of an Indian government led for once by an honest, earnest, selfless, intelligent and capable icon of probity? Was it the NERG or the nuclear deal? Or was it a palpable sense that the lack of performance in 2004-09 was not the previous government’s fault but due to the dereliction of voters who had obliged the UPA in 2004 to form and operate with an unwieldy coalition of disparate members who believed only in self-enrichment, immunity, and protecting self-interest? Were the voters rectifying their earlier mistake? Possibly; we will never know. What passes for deep political analysis is really pseudo-scientific interpretation of flawed opinion polls.

And it does not matter because we have a result. If that is so what might we look forward to for the next five years? Galloping reform which the previous UPA government claimed it was hamstrung to engineer? Unlikely! The ‘new-old’ Cabinet suggests continuity; especially with the continued incumbency of so many non-performing ministers in key ministries. It is singularly uninspiring in the reform-accelerating department. There is implicit resistance to overdue reforms within the Congress Party, its UPA partners and its ‘first family’. Can we look forward to more rapid delivery of infrastructure which has become synonymous with ‘development’? Will we consign to the dustbin of history our continued extreme shortages of electricity, water, clean air, and acceptable urban and national transport? The exhortative rhetoric will be stepped up. But will faster delivery occur? Doubtful! Can we expect more about the pseudo inclusion and participation of the poor (whether rural or urban) into the fabric of what constitutes the modern economy? Perhaps, because of the pervading (correct) sense that it would win more votes next time around in 2014.

... contd.