I was becoming impatient. I had sent both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh messages by all sorts of different routes but, once the astonishing election results were known in mid-May, Indian politics was a 20 hours a day affair – the principals barely had time to sleep, much less grant an interview to a foreign reporter. For the first few days the question was, would the communists, who had won 7 per cent of the vote, surpassing their own best expectations, join the Congress party in forming a government of the left. Despite arguments in favour by communist heavyweights such as the new speaker of the Lok Sabha (lower house), Somnath Chatterjee, the communists decided against. They would support a Congress government, but from the outside.
Following the announcement that they were staying out – and therefore perhaps making mischief – the Indian stock market had its worst day in its 129-year history. Congress realised that to stop the rot it had to take over the reins of government. To calm the markets, Manmohan Singh, author of India’s post-1991 economic revolution, was wheeled out as the likely new finance minister. Five days after the election results came in, APJ Abdul Kalam, the president of India, received Sonia Gandhi to discuss forming a new government and the Congress leadership made it clear, as did the communists, that they expected her to become prime minister. Then the real storm broke. The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), the party of the outgoing Hindu nationalist government, announced that it would boycott her swearing-in. As an Italian, they said, Gandhi was unacceptable.
Sonia Gandhi stunned her party and the world when she acquiesced in this BJP veto. She had many reasons. It was clear that her political opponents would continue to use her Italian origins to undermine her government. In such an atmosphere another family assassination could not be discounted. Besides, her ambition if any was to clear the way for the future ascendancy of one of her two children, and her incredible victory had already secured that. Late into another night of debate, it was announced that Manmohan Singh would be prime minister, while Sonia Gandhi remained president of Congress.
If you are a subscriber, please log in »
This article is available to subscribers only
Subscribing to Prospect is the most reliable and convenient way to receive the magazine every month, and offers the best value.Subscription Types:
Online
An online subscription offers you complete and unlimited access to the entire website, including our searchable archive of every back issue of Prospect, and a PDF edition of each new issue: all this for just £20 per year. Purchase an online subscription »Renewal
Renew an existing subscription »Institutional access
If you are a library, business organisation or any other large institution that needs a multi-user licence, you can obtain institutional access.
Share
Subscribe to post comments
Print
