Re: a victory of sorts in india...

[ravi <gadfly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louis Proyect wrote:
> First,
> there were forces in the north connected to caste politics. Second, the
> emergence of the right-wing and reactionary elements like the RSS
> [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh].
>


a few points:

1) w.r.t the above, the RSS is not a recent emergence. the
hindu/upper-caste fundamentalism, afaik, has been around for a while,
including such illustrous members as nathuram ghotse (the man who killed
gandhi). the RSS itself has been active as a sort of recruiting and
indoctrination vehicle for quite some time. i remember being approached
in school by classmates who were RSS members.

2) one significant event that derailed the congress was probably indira
gandhi's imposition of "emergency" in the 70s[?], leading to various
prominent leaders from the independence movement leaving the party or
coming out in opposition (jayaprakash narayan, morarji desai, et al).
the more "leftist" janata party (people's party) toppled the congress in
the ensuing elections (the BJP grew out of the janata party, afaik, a
few years later).

3) as michael hinted in his message, the programme of neo-liberalization
was begun under rajiv gandhi (son of indira gandhi), when the congress
regained power in the 80s. there was a techno bent to the "reform" even
in those days: eg: star indian technologist sam pitroda was lured back
from the USA to india with promises of large funding and unlimited freedom.

        --ravi