> 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 (hence my
> follow-up questions to Sujeet).
What do you make of the assessments in the current issue of Front Line (http://www.frontlineonnet.com), allowing for its orientation? Specifically, the following points in the cover story:
"The primary factor, by any yardstick, has to be the overriding view among large sections of the electorate that only the Congress can provide a stable, secular government. The second factor relates to the track record of the Manmohan Singh government, particularly its social sector initiatives such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and the bank loan waiver.
The third crucial factor is the shift of the Muslim vote towards the Congress in the Hindi heartland in general and in Uttar Pradesh in particular. The community felt increasingly disenchanted with the parties it supported in the past two decades, including the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (S.P.) and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)."
Which, if accurate, would not suggest the adoption of liberal capitalism by the non-ruling classes.
Aside from the above, the assessment of the outcome in West Bengal -- as part of the coverage on the East and Northeast. Specifically the startling (to me) observation, after noting the issues over the SEZ and Nandigram:
"But this cannot explain the disenchantment of the urban voters in and around Kolkata. In fact, within a belt of 100 kilometres around Kolkata, the Left failed to win a single urban seat. Apart from the anti-incumbency wave resulting from 32 successive years of Left Front rule, the estrangement of the minority community from it contributed to the Left’s reversal of fortunes. The Sachar Committee report had revealed that the lot of the Muslim poor in West Bengal left much to be desired.
However, according to senior CPI(M) leader Benoy Konar, it was more the apprehension of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coming to power again at the Centre that prompted the minorities to vote en bloc in favour of the Congress, which party alone can keep the NDA at bay at the national level."
Which appears to suggest that the urban debacle for the Left Front was much the result of Muslim estrangement. Or, is it the case that the Left Front got caught in a vice in which it had succeeded in alienating significant swathes of the rural population, while liberal capitalism had captured the imagination of the urban? Or -- and forgive any ignorance -- specifically Kolkata's imagination, desirous of regaining its place as a major centre of the "Indian" imagination?
kj