British Media Exalts Congress Win, Slams BJP
Lending credence to Left fears and blistering the Bharatiya Janata Party for its right wing agenda, British media on Monday was all praise for Indian voters for electing the Congress, and called on the grand-old-party to leverage the mandate to take India to “global responsibility.”
“Congress brought India to independence. It now has a chance to give it the firm government needed for global responsibility,” read an editorial in The Times.
Heralding poll results, it added “investors hope that a new strong government will be able to accelerate the pace of economic reform, unhampered by the Communists and other obstructive parties that have held back many of Dr Singh’s reforms for the past five years.”
The newspaper underlined the strong voter turnout and said the result was decided along political lines rather than caste, region or religion factors while lauding the conduct of the polls.
While unanimously complimenting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the media acclaimed the leadership of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s campaign forays in Uttar Pradesh.
The FT, in an editorial, said the electorate had delivered a “humbling lesson in democratic wisdom.”
“…The results reveal Indian democracy’s ability to push back against three profoundly centrifugal forces that have made big advances over the past three decades: caste-based populism; sectarian Hindu revivalism; and regional parties with a habit of holding the national interest hostage.”
Crediting the Congress leadership for the party’s best electoral performance in over two decades, the FT was harsh in its criticism of the BJP.
While blaming the main Opposition BJP for playing up the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai, the media giant expressed fears that the poll outcome could push the BJP to “retrench behind a more undiluted Hindutva,” against the better interests of the nation.
Notably, since pulling the outside plug on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the Left parties have repeatedly expressed fears that the nation may be pulled into the thick of global battles being waged by Western countries.
