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| India-Pakistan |
| As communists fade, India's new kingmaker emerges |
| 2008-07-14 |
| A former wrestler who once counted a "bandit queen" as his ally has now thrown a lifeline to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, forgetting years of snubs and animosity from the government to emerge as a kingmaker. The withdrawal of the Indian government's communist allies to protest a civilian nuclear deal with the United States has left an embattled government reaching out to Mulayam Singh and his regional Samajwadi Party to secure its parliamentary majority. The government will now have to negotiate with the former defence minister and his right hand man Amar Singh on issues from the nuclear deal to cabinet posts, from economic reforms to measures to tame inflation in a trillion dollar economy. "Mulayam is a very experienced operator who negotiates hard and has his eyes set on power," said Kuldip Nayar, a political expert and author on Indian history and current affairs. Mulayam Singh's rise to power highlights the peculiarities of coalition government in India, where national parties like the ruling Congress increasingly have to deal with the emergence of smaller caste and regional-based parties to stay in power. The Samajwadi leader is a controversial choice. He faces a corruption probe by police and critics said he did little to stop rising criminality in his home state of Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam Singh for years dominated Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, where he was chief minister three times. He is seen as a liberal and secular, more open to negotiation with the government than the strongly ideological communist parties. "The only difference between us and the left is that we are not rigid in our attitude," Amar Singh, who is no relation to Mulayam, said in a recent Reuters interview. "We have not given unconditional support. We are not likely to give it either." Mulayam Singh relies on votes of Muslims and farmers from the Yadav caste but he lost the last election to Mayawati, another caste-based politician known as the "Queen of the Dalits", after a voter backlash of rising lawlessness in the state. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Unless I've missed something, the Indian Commies, and aligned had threatened to withdraw but only within the scope if initiating stronger measures or counterresponses agz New Delhi [read - including Radical Islamist Indian Groups]. BASICALLY THE SAME METHODISM PRES EMPLOYED BY NEPAL'S MAOISTS AND ANTI-MONARCHISTS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-14 20:06 |