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Close now to 50 years of independence under political democracy,
Indians are deep in self-examination -- sparing nothing, from
corroding corruption to quota by casteism to bureaucratic
strangulation.
In range and bite, no other society approaches the long look in the
mirror that Indians are taking at themselves and those they
entrusted to govern them. The pain is already bringing political
and economic changes to India, whose history affected the world for
centuries and still does.
But despite some excellent Indian and foreign journalism, this
pivotal event in democracy gets less attention from Western
capitals than twitches in Beijing's Communist rhetoric does.
For 40 years I have been seized by India. The glory of the variety
of its ways, history, religions, art and friendships - the colors
of life - make me rush to meet the gift of the day.
For all those years, Indians and friends like myself said that
India was of huge importance to the world because it was the only
newly independent country to choose and stick with political
democracy. Now they say that it is still true, but democracy
defeats democracy when it is used to explain away or apologise for
the nasty blotches.
The mirror asks why for half a century elected Indian governments
have failed to provide the great majority of Indians with the
decencies of life - clean water, toilets, sufficient food and
medicine, enough roads so that villagers do not have to walk hours
to the nearest one. Why does India lag behind so many other
comparable societies in basic education, birth control, life
expectancy, health care, income, foreign investment?
It is not the major politicians and parties that are trying to
answer those questions. They have been sidelined by the disgust of
Indians using ballots as an archer his arrows. In last year's
elections voters virtually wiped out the Congress Party, which led
India to independence under Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
and then marched purposefully into corruption, disdain and slovenly
government.
Indian voters, investigative courts and a vivid press show their
conviction that it was not democracy that failed India but he
politicians who failed both. Every day brings exposure of official
corruption. One former cabinet minister was sentenced for
sheltering a leader of bandits who terrorise great swatches of
India -- 10 years hard labour. The last Prime minister, P.V.
Narsimha Rao, is fighting to stay out of prison for bribery.
India's political leaders were a choke collar on economic progress.
For cash and caste, they helped cronies, kept the economy in
government hands and restricted foreign investment far beyond the
steps necessary to protect farmers and small businesses that do
need help, as they once did in the West.
No party won a majority. A coalition of 13 parties, most
regional-based, was pasted together to block the Hindu nationalist
party from taking control. A provincial leader from Karnataka,
H.D. Deve Gowda, won the lottery for prime ministership, to his
astonishment.
Even if it does not last, his government has put forward a budget
that is India's most friendly to foreign investors and Indian
business. Foreigners shout.' remember that he also has valid
commitments to the vast, scrabbling rural constituency that needs
help.
The elections already have produced a shift of some political power
and economic say-so from New Delhi to the 25 states. The mishmash
of free enterprise and socialist regulation is held in growing
contempt.
Communism and fascism taught us that tyranny can prosper under
capitalism. India teaches us that in a democracy the corruption,
hypocrisy, arrogance, and fossilization of elected leaders can
perpetuate destitution.
Now I am going out for a walk in New Delhi, where Indian freedom
was proclaimed on Aug. 15, 1947. When I get back, I will be like
the country - hot, sweaty and impatient, but eager again to meet
the gift of a day in India.
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