Let us hope the darkness has passed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1216532,00.html
India's real and virtual worlds have collided in a humiliation of
power
Arundhati Roy
Friday May 14, 2004
The Guardian
For many of us who feel estranged from mainstream politics, there are
rare, ephemeral moments of celebration. Today is one of them. When
India went to the polls, we were negotiating the dangerous
cross-currents of neo-liberalism and neo-fascism - an assault on the
poor and minority communities.
None of the pundits and psephologists predicted the results. The
rightwing BJP-led coalition has not just been voted out of power, it
has been humiliated. It cannot but be seen as a decisive vote against
communalism, and neo-liberalism's economic "reforms". The Congress has
become the largest party. The left parties, the only parties to be
overtly (but ineffectively) critical of the reforms, have been given
an unprecedented mandate. But even as we celebrate, we know that on
every major issue besides overt Hindu nationalism (nuclear bombs, big
dams and privatisation), the Congress and the BJP have no major
ideological differences. We know the legacy of the Congress led us to
the horror of the BJP. Still, we celebrate because surely a darkness
has passed. Or has it?
Arundhati Roy
http://news.google.com/news?q=%20%22Arundhati%20Roy%22&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=gn
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Arundhati+Roy%22&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&tab=nw&sa=N
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_epq=Arundhati%20Roy&safe=images&ie=UTF-8&as_scoring=d&lr=&num=100&hl=en
India Indian Indians Indo
http://news.google.com/news?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+India+OR+Indian+OR+Indians+OR+Indo&sa=N&tab=gn
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+India+OR+Indian+OR+Indians+OR+Indo&sa=N&tab=nw
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+India+OR+Indian+OR+Indians+OR+Indo&sa=N&tab=wd&cat=gwd%2FTop
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_oq=India%20Indian%20Indians%20Indo&safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_scoring=d&lr=&num=100&hl=en
.
|
