I use the phrase "communal forces" reluctantly, but the disarray and name-calling in its ranks must make the upa feel rather good. A progressive, pluralist, inclusive, rational society where communal mobilisation for electoral purposes is breathing its last cannot but be good news. Pseudo-secularists like me can be forgiven for feeling vindicated, possibly triumphant. Ours is too big and too heterogeneous a country, and thank Lord Ram, the average Hindu is too much of an iconoclast to be pushed into one large Hindutva tent. All those interested in the health of Indian democracy must hope that sooner rather than later, the BJP will emerge as a bona fide, nationalist, right-wing party minus the anti-Muslim edge. I have long believed it will require some BJP leader of extraordinary courage and wisdom to loosen, not break, the chains in which the party is presently bound by the rss. Without that act of courage, there is little hope for God's own party.
Saffron Singed
The past 12 months have seen our economy grow and grow. The world tells us we are poised to become an economic superpower. Alas, as even Time magazine could notice, two Indias are increasingly visible. In Delhi, where I see obscene instances of conspicuous consumption, the limbless beggar at the traffic lights is a daily reminder that in a country where a meal for two can cost Rs 5,000, sub-Saharan poverty exists simultaneously. It takes a special kind of Indian genius not to notice the limbless beggar. The supreme and unforgivable failure of Indian democracy is that nearly 35 per cent of its citizens continue to live in absolute poverty.
As the simpleton who lit candles on the Wagah border in 1996, the dramatic improvement in Indo-Pakistan relations is the best thing that happened in 2004. Sorry, I'll make that second-best.