Bhagavad Gita: Hindustan Times
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xp_communicationNO-CONFIDENCE VOTE SUCCEEDS
Vinod Sharma, New Delhi, July 02, 2008
Today's no-confidence vote marked a stinging defeat for the Congress Party which swept into the ruling majority under such high hopes only four years ago.
Manmohan Singh, who had been a steadfast leader of the Congress for nearly a decade, has appeared utterly dejected today after he handed in his resignation letter to the President. It is widely believed that the post of the Prime Minister will be offered to Dattatreya Kenneth Neramani, whose Bharatiya Janata Party is sure to regain majority in the early elections.
The rapid fall of Singh stands in stark contrast to his long and illustrious career - first as as the Governors of the Reserve Bank and later as the finance minister, who inaugurated the financial reforms that fueled Indian economy and allowed it to recover from the crisis of the 1990s.
Even as late as last week it appeared that Singh would be able to weather the latest challenge from the opposition, although the government's communist allies, which provide the ruling coalition with a majority in parliament, made clear their intention to withdraw their support, to protest a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.
As a result of intense and months-long negotiations, the former Prime Minister was confident that he could count on the support of the Samajwadi Party, which in alliance with the Congress, would allow the United Progressive Alliance to retain the majority in Parliament even with the defection of the Left Front.
As was clear for months the CPI and CPI(M) were planning to leave the UPA, over the concerns that Singh's nuclear pact with the Unites States would compromise the country's strategic programme or its right to conduct a nuclear test. Both Communist parties refused to be placated by the repeated assurances from the Prime Minister's office to the contrary.
Singh's careful political machinations were thrown into confusion, however by the horrific events in Srinagar and his handling of the situation. The opposition seized upon his slow response to what they declared a clear aggression against India's sovereignty, and UPA was never able to regain the initiative.
Trapped between the pressure exerted by the United Nations and the West for the wait-and-see approach, and the relentless assaults from the BJP which painted him as a lapdog of McKenna, willing to sacrifice Indian lives and autonomy to score points on the international arena, Singh saw his carefully constructed coalition disintegrate within mere days.
'McKenna's little sister' as he was derisively nicknamed by Lal Krishna Advani in the recent, heated Parliamentary session had no choice but to offer his resignation today, as the Left Front a letter to President Pratibha Patil, announcing their decision to withdraw support for the ruling coalition, led by the centre-left Congress party. The hoped-for letter of support from the Samajwadi Party failed to materialize and the triumphant BJP quickly called for the vote of no-confidence.
The caretaker government, soon to be formed By D Ken Neramani, is likely to be an unprecedented coalition, including both the conservative BJP along with their old NDA allies, but also the Left Front and the Samajwadi - the latter thus realizing their quest of transformation into national force. It's debatable whether this majority coalition will last long, given the deep and long-standing animosities between the communists, the socialist Samajwadi and the BJP. In the meantime, however, it will give Neramani a clear mandate for action.
Today marks the pinnacle of Neramani's long work to revitalize India's main conservative party. A scion of the powerful Shiar family that has long been a political dynasty in the Northern provinces, the Eton educated politician has struck a chord with the voters calling for a more robust foreign policy in general, and specifically for an immediate and forceful retaliation for the recent attack in Kashmir.
A landslide victory for his party in the upcoming snap election now seems a foregone conclusion.
Vinod Sharma, New Delhi, July 02, 2008
Today's no-confidence vote marked a stinging defeat for the Congress Party which swept into the ruling majority under such high hopes only four years ago.
Manmohan Singh, who had been a steadfast leader of the Congress for nearly a decade, has appeared utterly dejected today after he handed in his resignation letter to the President. It is widely believed that the post of the Prime Minister will be offered to Dattatreya Kenneth Neramani, whose Bharatiya Janata Party is sure to regain majority in the early elections.
The rapid fall of Singh stands in stark contrast to his long and illustrious career - first as as the Governors of the Reserve Bank and later as the finance minister, who inaugurated the financial reforms that fueled Indian economy and allowed it to recover from the crisis of the 1990s.
Even as late as last week it appeared that Singh would be able to weather the latest challenge from the opposition, although the government's communist allies, which provide the ruling coalition with a majority in parliament, made clear their intention to withdraw their support, to protest a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.
As a result of intense and months-long negotiations, the former Prime Minister was confident that he could count on the support of the Samajwadi Party, which in alliance with the Congress, would allow the United Progressive Alliance to retain the majority in Parliament even with the defection of the Left Front.
As was clear for months the CPI and CPI(M) were planning to leave the UPA, over the concerns that Singh's nuclear pact with the Unites States would compromise the country's strategic programme or its right to conduct a nuclear test. Both Communist parties refused to be placated by the repeated assurances from the Prime Minister's office to the contrary.
Singh's careful political machinations were thrown into confusion, however by the horrific events in Srinagar and his handling of the situation. The opposition seized upon his slow response to what they declared a clear aggression against India's sovereignty, and UPA was never able to regain the initiative.
Trapped between the pressure exerted by the United Nations and the West for the wait-and-see approach, and the relentless assaults from the BJP which painted him as a lapdog of McKenna, willing to sacrifice Indian lives and autonomy to score points on the international arena, Singh saw his carefully constructed coalition disintegrate within mere days.
'McKenna's little sister' as he was derisively nicknamed by Lal Krishna Advani in the recent, heated Parliamentary session had no choice but to offer his resignation today, as the Left Front a letter to President Pratibha Patil, announcing their decision to withdraw support for the ruling coalition, led by the centre-left Congress party. The hoped-for letter of support from the Samajwadi Party failed to materialize and the triumphant BJP quickly called for the vote of no-confidence.
The caretaker government, soon to be formed By D Ken Neramani, is likely to be an unprecedented coalition, including both the conservative BJP along with their old NDA allies, but also the Left Front and the Samajwadi - the latter thus realizing their quest of transformation into national force. It's debatable whether this majority coalition will last long, given the deep and long-standing animosities between the communists, the socialist Samajwadi and the BJP. In the meantime, however, it will give Neramani a clear mandate for action.
Today marks the pinnacle of Neramani's long work to revitalize India's main conservative party. A scion of the powerful Shiar family that has long been a political dynasty in the Northern provinces, the Eton educated politician has struck a chord with the voters calling for a more robust foreign policy in general, and specifically for an immediate and forceful retaliation for the recent attack in Kashmir.
A landslide victory for his party in the upcoming snap election now seems a foregone conclusion.
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