DATE=12/15/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=YEARENDER: INDIAN POLITICS
NUMBER=5-44991
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Nineteen-99 was a tumultuous year in Indian
politics. It was the year that Sonia Gandhi --the
Italian-born widow of assassinated Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi -- emerged as a major force in Indian
politics. She won her first race for a parliament
seat.
However, the big winner in 1999 turned out to be Atal
Behari Vajpayee -- India's 75-year-old Prime Minister.
He began the year as the head of a weak coalition
government but later won national elections, becoming
the first Indian prime minister since 1971 to win a
second consecutive term in office. V-O-A's Jim Teeple
has more on the year in Indian politics.
TEXT:
// ACTUALITY OF SOUND CHANTING SUPPORT
FOR SONIA GANDHI //
Text: Crowds of Sonia Gandhi supporters gathered
outside her sprawling, colonial-era mansion in New
Delhi's diplomatic enclave on April 17th. It was a
warm Saturday afternoon and Sonia Gandhi's Congress
Party had just brought down a weak coalition
government led by Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party.
The defeat was a shock. Predictions had Mr. Vajpayee
winning a parliament vote of confidence by one vote.
Instead, he lost by the same margin. Later that day,
Mr. Vajpayee submitted his resignation to India's
President K-R Narayanan, saying he would stay on until
a new government was formed.
Mr. Vajpayee's government was brought down after just
13 months in office. One of his coalition allies,
Jarayam Jayalalitha -- a former movie actress from the
state of Tamil Nadu -- withdrew her 18 seats from his
coalition and offered her support to Sonia Gandhi and
the Congress Party. The move forced a Parliament
vote of confidence.
However, Sonia Gandhi quickly discovered it was far
easier to bring down a government than form one of her
own. In the days that followed, both the Congress
Party and the B-J-P worked furiously to line up the
necessary 272 votes to form a government and avoid a
national election. While Mr. Vajpayee avoided the
public spotlight Sonia Gandhi made a statement she was
soon to regret.
// GANDHI ACTUALITY //
I don't know how many numbers (votes in Parliament)
they claim to have. They say, I believe, they have
270. Well, we have 272 and we hope to get more. We
are confident we will get more.
// END ACTUALITY //
It soon became clear that Sonia Gandhi's erstwhile
political allies were as fickle as those of Atal
Behari Vajpayee. Allies that helped her bring down
the government avoided meetings with Mrs. Gandhi --
holding out for concessions the Congress Party
president was unable to deliver. After a week of
crisis maneuvering, it became clear that neither Sonia
Gandhi nor Atal Behari Vajpayee had the support to
form a government and national elections were
scheduled for five voting dates in September and
October.
Following his defeat in Parliament, Atal Behari
Vajpayee enjoyed a burst of popularity from a public
and a party that felt he had been unfairly brought
down. His previously tenuous position as undisputed
party leader was solidified and most polls showed the
prime minister in a strong position to win reelection.
The situation was far different for Sonia Gandhi.
Following her inability to form a government,
recriminations against her quickly began. Three
prominent Congress Party regional leaders questioned
her ability to leader the party -- saying only native-
born Indians should aspire to high office in India.
Mrs. Gandhi quickly showed that, although she might
not be able to control allies outside the party, she
had a firm grasp on the party itself.
In a dramatic announcement, she resigned her position
as Congress Party president -- calling the bluff of
dissidents within the party who had questioned her
leadership abilities. Panicked party leaders quickly
expelled the three dissidents and called on her to
return as Congress Party president. She did one week
later, at a party conference where she rejected
accusations she was not "Indian enough" to head the
Party or run for office.
// GANDHI ACTUALITY //
No longer shall we tolerate the negative forces which
seek to target the dignity of a woman through calumny
and falsehood this is an attempt to rule by sowing
suspicion by dividing brother from brother and by
indulging in the partisan politics of hate.
// END ACTUALITY //
// OPT // While Sonia Gandhi and Atal Behari
Vajpayee positioned themselves and their parties for
an election showdown, India's election commission
scrambled to make preparations for the country's third
national election in three years. India Chief Election
Commissioner M-S Gill said, even in the best of times,
Indian elections are not easy to prepare for.
// OPTIONAL GILL ACTUALITY //
An Indian election is the mother of all elections --
600 million voters, which is not a joke. It worries
and frightens one. And we have a whole range of
arrangements to look at -- security, seasons, the
monsoon, education -- all sorts of things.
// END OPTIONAL ACTUALITY //
Over five days in September and October, Indian voters
trooped to the polls. Concerns over election
violence were high, but election officials later said
disruptions and violence in the 1999 election were
minor compared with past elections.
As the voting got underway it became clear fairly
quickly India's venerable Congress Party was heading
for a major defeat. The defection of three party
regional party leaders dealt a serious blow to the
party's chances in key states like Maharasthra, home
to Bombay -- India's commercial capital.
// OPT // Ramesh Dubey -- a candidate for parliament
in the northwest part of the city -- was running on
the ticket of the Nationalist Congress Party - a
breakaway political party which split from Congress
Party in May. Mr. Dubey said Sonia Gandhi's place of
birth was the reason he left the Congress Party and it
was why he was running for Parliament.
// OPTIONAL DUBEY ACTUALITY //
Yes, I left because we don't want a foreign lady as
the Prime Minister of India.
// END OPTIONAL ACTUALITY //
In India, parliament candidates are allowed to run for
more than one seat. Sonia Gandhi won both races she
ran by overwhelming majorities -- entering parliament
for the first time. However, she led her party to its
worst defeat in memory, losing more than 30 seats in
Parliament and calling into question once again her
leadership abilities.
And, just six months after his government was defeated
by one vote in a parliament confidence motion, Atal
Behari Vajpayee became the first prime minister since
Indira Gandhi in 1971 to win a second term in office.
In the process, she led the B-J-P to its biggest
victory ever. With its coalition partners, the B-J-P
now controls more than 300 seats in India's 545-seat
lower house. Party leaders say they are confident
they will be able to serve out a full five-year term
in office.
//REST OPTIONAL//
Following his election victory Mr. Vajpayee said his
top priority was to push ahead with economic reforms.
Economic liberalization was begun nearly ten years
ago. However, the reforms were slowed down in recent
years by a lack of political consensus over how much
privatization and foreign investment should be allowed
in India.
Sonia Gandhi says she accepts full responsibility for
her party's poor showing in the election, but that she
will stay on as Congress Party president and lead the
opposition in Parliament. (Signed)
neb/jlt/WD
15-Dec-1999 02:36 AM EDT (15-Dec-1999 0736 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
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