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| India-Pakistan |
| Left in India worried |
| 2011-05-15 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] The Left parties face their darkest hour in Indian politics, if not marginalisation, as they have been voted out of power in two key states of West Bengal and Kerala in the assembly elections. The only state the Left hangs on to power is Tripura, where too they face tough challenge from Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. The Left leaders said they would introspect on the reasons for their electoral rout in West Bengal and the narrow defeat in Kerala. However, The obscurantist However... there is considerable unease among the Left leaders about their future. The Left's ouster from power in West Bengal and Kerala came two years after their worst performance in the parliamentary polls in May 2009 when their tally of seats reduced drastically. The concern is whether the Left is becoming increasingly irrelevant in Indian politics. The Left's defeat in Kerala was not entirely unexpected as the southern state is always known as a "pendulum" state, where the voters never brought a single political party or alliance back to power after one term. Power in Kerala has always swung between the Congress-led alliance and the Left Front. The defeat in Kerala was narrow -- by just three seats. However, The emphatic However... the Left's drubbing in West Bengal at the hands of Trinamool Congress came as a shock to many. Sources in Left parties admitted to having ideological flux in them for long. There is also acknowledgement that the Left has embraced a capitalistic and bourgeois set-up, which consequently affected it with all its negativities including corruption. The Left has oscillated between quasi socialism and a grudging acceptance of private capital, reflective of an ideological tug of war and has been ambivalent for long in its relationship with the Congress party. At the state level in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, the Left has taken on Congress as its main rival while at the national level it joined hands with the latter to keep the "communal" BJP at bay. The Left has oscillated between supporting and opposing Congress at the national level from time to time, and went to the extent of sharing the dais with the BJP and other non-Congress parties before the 1988 parliamentary polls. Now the question in political circles is: will Mamata emerge triumphant in Tripura where the Left has been in power for the last 18 years at a stretch and is to face fresh elections to the state assembly by January 2013. Analysts in Agartala are not entirely ruling out Tripura going the West Bengal way. The worries were palpable when Bijan Dhar, central committee member and Tripura unit general secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), told news hounds in Agartala that there is a possibility of the wave of change reaching Tripura too. His remark came after the announcement of the West Bengal poll results on Friday. "However, The ever-popular However... we will introspect where we are going wrong and take necessary steps for course correction," Dhar said. Trinamool Congress in Tripura, like in West Bengal, is keen to fill the place of the opposition left void by the organisational meltdown of Congress party in both the states. The advantage for the Left in Tripura is that there is no viable alternative to it in the state as Congress has been in doldrums organisationally and lacked good leadership there since the death of Samir Ranjan Barman and Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar. Analysts said Mamata was so engrossed with West Bengal that she hardly found time to nurture her party's base in Tripura. Having grabbed power in West Bengal now, she can focus on the north-eastern state. But Trinamool has a long way to match up to the organisational strength and leadership of CPI(M) in Tripura. The party in the state was earlier headed by an expelled Congress leader Dulal Das, who has been replaced by a retired professor. Trinamool Congress had unsuccessfully contested a few assembly seats in the elections in 2008 and then in local civic body polls. However, The all-purpose However... a couple of dissident CPI(M) state committee members of Tripura were believed to be helping Mamata to strengthen Trinamool Congress in the state. Securing power in Tripura will help Mamata's ambition for a greater role in national politics of India, said sources in Trinamool Congress. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 IOW, Post-Abbottabad/OBL PAKISTAN can't wage war agz India fast enough??? Keep your fingers crossed. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-05-15 22:30 |
| #11 If you want a metric of the size of the middle class, I'd use LCD HDTV sales. About 1 million are sold every month in India. Interestingly, this is slightly more than China. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-05-15 20:39 |
| #10 Half the Indian population has a mobile phone. Half of rural households have a TV with very rapid growth rates. Mobile internet connections are doubling every year, mostly in rural areas. I've been to India and lived with Indians (Tamils), albeit middle class Indians. I realize India is a complex mix of languages, castes, and ethnic identity. I also lived in Asia for 10 years and have seen the poverty for myself. Nonetheless the communications revolution is happening rapidly in India. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-05-15 20:24 |
| #9 Actually using literacy rate is kinda borked for quite a few countries as different governments define it differently. For example while India has a 61% literacy rate via the CIA factbook China touts over 91% (with 95% of all males over 15 being literate). Mind you they define literacy as: "One who can recognize more than 1500 Chinese characters (for a farmer) and 2000 characters (for an office worker or urban resident)". Both UNESCO and NAAL use different definitions of literacy as well with UNESCO's being: "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society." When compared to the Chinese version of literacy you can see there's a MAJOR difference in definitions. That all being said I'm of the view that countries like China and India have what I would call a thin veneer of the appearance of a growing middle class which appears in the more populous cities. Easy way to really observe this is to view the countries respective consumption of types of goods. A broad and strong middle class would have a large consumption of luxury goods and capital goods, a less strong middle class would see these kinds of goods exported and large consumptions of things like cereals, foods and other raw commodities. Anyways thats just my opinion. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2011-05-15 19:56 |
| #8 SAM, depending on when she left India, your wife's experience may be somewhat out of date as well as having a female bias (lower). India has a mass adult adult literacy program for many years. This is an Indian link so take it FWIW, but you can see trend lines. LITERACY IN INDIA: STEADY MARCH OVER THE YEARS |
| Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 2011-05-15 19:52 |
| #7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_India Adult literacy rate: 74.04% (2011) Youth literacy rate: 82% (2001) Wikipedia? Really? That is wildly optimistic, kind of like the way the US Government estimates that there are between 12 and 20 million illegals in this country. Even the CIA World Factbook only puts the literacy rate at 61% of the adult population, defined as age 15 and older. Sorry chief, but the reality is that illiteracy is much higher than the Indian Govt. wants to admit. And, my Indian wife and family scoff at the suggestion that India literacy rate is what the government claims. |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2011-05-15 15:50 |
| #6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_India Adult literacy rate: 74.04% (2011) Youth literacy rate: 82% (2001) |
| Posted by: john frum 2011-05-15 12:04 |
| #5 There are still many millions mired in rural poverty, but they see through the media how millions of Indians live comfortable middle class lives, and while they may not achieve that lifestyle. They see their children could. Huh? You've spent how much time in India? India has an illiteracy rate over 55%, the vast majority of the rural poor living in poverty have little or no access to the media. Besides, even if they did, they CAN"T READ! I have done lots of work in the Indian countryside with the rural inhabitants. They are mostly indolent, tribal and have no inclination to get educated, or educate their children. Most Americans understanding of India is grossly out of touch with reality. There is a HUGE problem with illegals from Bangladesh and other places not to mention the fact that India is made up of dozens of different ethnic groups, most of whom have no sense of nationalism. Your post indicates you have no idea of the reality on the ground there. The "middle class" in India is very thin compared to here, and only the wealthy really live well. Hell, our poor drawing welfare and bennies live better on par than a substantial percentage of the middle class there. Next time I go, (October 2011 for 2 to 3 months) you can come with me. You'll have to rough it though, we'll be living with the Indians as the Indians live...and it ain't comfortable. |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2011-05-15 11:50 |
| #4 I might live long enough to see the repudiation of the entire socio-fasciast New Freedom/New Deal/Square Deal/Great Society/Obamacare/Raw Deal Just a slight editorial change--if you don't mind. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-05-15 09:47 |
| #3 And despite this and India being a nuclear power with a space program they are still receiving aid from the west. I'm all for their success but it's time to cut the apron strings and let the kiddies succeed or fail on their own. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-05-15 09:00 |
| #2 India is becoming increasingly a self-confident, middle class society. There are still many millions mired in rural poverty, but they see through the media how millions of Indians live comfortable middle class lives, and while they may not achieve that lifestyle. They see their children could. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-05-15 08:32 |
| #1 The concern is whether the Left is becoming increasingly irrelevant in Indian politics. The left is becoming increasingly irrelevant in everyone's politics. I am almost thinking I might live long enough to see the repudiation of the entire socio-fasciast New Freedom/New Deal/Square Deal/Great Society/Obamacare. Almost time to go pray. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-05-15 06:12 |