 |
||
|
||
|
||
Disgust probably best describes the reaction to the Congress president's
action that led to the fall of the United Front Government in India last
night. Across the board the feeling was that Kesri was driven by a
desire to be Prime Minister at any cost.
Most newspapers lamented the fact that the Congress had brought down a
government which had moved forward on economic policy and organised
talks with Pakistan for the first time in many years.
LONDON : The fall of the government after the confidence vote was the
expected outcome following Sitaram Kesri's withdrawal of support. The
Congress move evoked all-round opprobrium in the "quality press". The
Guardian described it as the "shame of the subcontinent". In an
editorial the paper wrote that Kesri's act proved the "bankruptcy of the
party of Gandhi and Nehru".
The Economist magazine said, "Ever since he took over from Narasimha Rao
as president of the Congress Party, Sitaram Kesri has had his eye on the
Prime ministership.
At the age of 79 (or possibly 81) he is not inclined to wait...
"The Times wrote, "Four days of talks in Delhi between India and
Pakistan ended effectively in ruins because of the political upheaval".
The Financial Times said Kesri's action was "extraordinary" since it
came at time when the UF Government had "forged a coherent strategy both
on domestic and foreign policy".
The Guardian wrote that the UF Government had "conceded what everyone
really knew; the number of Indians below the poverty line is not a
barely tolerable 19 per cent but at least twice as much.... That is a
better start then anything offered by the ultra-right or a clapped out
Congress".
WASHINGTON : The raging and sustained political drama in India has been
largely ignored by American commentators and the media, but it has drawn
anguished reactions from the Indian community in this part of the world.
Many NRIs followed the developments live on the Internet and there was
some sustained cross talk via e-mail and the Internet between Political
animals.
The fall of the Gowda Government got only a passing mention on network
news and barely made it to the newspapers. Radio networks fed off wire
services
The State Department had no reaction, in keeping with its standard
position that the political developments were India's internal affairs.
|
||
|
||
|
||