Re: Arvind Kumar on India's voters: more nonsense

[vamsi@siliconcorp.com]

---"Dr. Subroto Roy" <sroy@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in>
wrote:
>
> "We in India claim that we have a mature electorate
when it is
> >actually the opposite. The average indian voter is
usually illiterate
> >and   politically ignorant. "
>
> More alienated NRI/elite nonsense it seems to me,
and an insult to
> Indian democracy.  You may care to read, for

I see that your emotions have started dictating your responses on this
issue. First, I held this view even before I left the shores of India
for the first time.  One woman I asked whom she had voted for and why
replied that she had voted for Moopanar because the
vote went to Indira Gandhi. This was in 1996! Consider the facts.  Two
states have voted actors as chief ministers.  Amitabh Bachchan made it
to parliament because of his Superstar status. Other actors routinely
win elections based on their "star" status.  Two states in india vote
for a party which rubbishes democracy in its constitution as "a stopgap
pending next revolution".  Voters have a fixation for a particular
dynasty.  "I want to be the dog of Sonia Gandhi", said one professor who
also was an MP at that time. Education has *never* been an election
issue (BJP included the point but it wasn't an issue) Voters in Delhi
have vented their anger on the BJP government because the prices of
onions rose to dizzying heights. (This is exactly what today's newspaper
says) I could go on and on but I'll stop here.

An NRI is not necessarily alienated. If we were to apply the same logic,
you are not supposed to comment on other countries or even on anything
outside IIT-KGP because being in such a protected environment, you are
not only alienated from the rest of the country but also unaware of the
real problems as IIT campuses are insulated from reality due to
pampering.

We keep hearing that the indian voter is mature. Over a period of time,
people have  started accepting it! The one example given is thed efeat
of Indira Gandhi  after the emergency. The truth is india has BLINDLY
voted against the establishment whenever there was an alternative. I
hope the analysts realize this point.

example, the chapter by
> James Manor in Foundations of India's Political
Economy: Towards an
> Agenda for India, edited by myself
> and William E. James, 1989, 1992.

If I were to get carried away, I should actually point out that this
person is probably alienated or elite!  I don't think that will be fair
on my part. Please tell me how I can lay my hands on it and I'll
definitely go through it.

-Arvind


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