> What this election seems to represent, seen
> in light of the defeat of both the Left and the BJP, is a pragmatic
> acceptance and adoption of liberal capitalism by the non-ruling classes
Well, the contradiction here is that Indian capitalism (a subject I know a bit more about than Indian politics) isn't terribly liberal, nor was its neoliberalism all that neoliberal. The place is too complex for that. There's a fairly large state sector, 90% of the banks are owned by the state, etc. Several of the major entrepreneurial families are running the Indian equivalent of chaebol - vast, sophisticated corporate networks. Then there's a huge agricultural sector, including vast numbers of middle-peasants and rural entrepreneurs, heavily dependent on various forms of state patronage. Many observers over the years have argued that India is a kind of postcolonial Empire -- a country big enough to exploit itself, as it were. Which is partly true, especially if you're a tribal in rural Orissa, but it's also true that there's also significant local accumulation happening -- investment rates above 30%, large-scale urbanization and industrialization, a film industry which produces one quarter of the world's feature films, etc. Almost every conceivable form of class struggle, from peaceful to violent, and from semi-feudal to late capitalist, is happening in India today, simultaneously. Elections are only a small part of a complicated story.
-- DRR