Have power and ideology been used to achieve consensus India Essay

Have power and ideology been used to achieve consensus India - Essay ExampleYet, the U.S. could non claim the same degree of representation and clique that India can. In this respect Indian democracy can be said to be more functional than the more publicized democracies of the western world. But this is not to say that real-politic does not exist in India, or that political campaigns and policy-making are fair and just. In independent India, there were numerous instances of misuse and smear of power. Even the once-revered Congress Party (which was once led by the great Mahatma Gandhi) has now reduced to yet another power broker, having lost its aura and sign sanctity. (Cohen, 2000, p.32) The latest sign of its deviation from founding principles is its close alliance with the United States of America, whose imperialist agenda is well documented and blatantly expressed. And recent Indian governments take a shit projected America-led neoliberal capitalist ideology as something beni gn and progressive in garnering electoral consensus. Numerous American officials already used the term irreversible to describe the course of Indo-U.S. relations. No U.S. president visited Indiabetween January 1978 and March 2000, when President Clinton made a historic trip to the Subcontinent. Cabinet-level exchanges shit since become routine, and President Bushs think visit in early spring 2006 will reflect an agenda that has come to encompass shared global interests and concerns ranging from Iran and China to nuclear cooperation and biotechnology. Some have begun to see Bushs visit to Indiaas similar, in both intent and consequence, to that of Richard Nixon to China in 1972--which transformed Sino-U.S. relations and the global balance of powerfor the next three decades. (Khanna & Mohan, 2006, p.43) The Congress Party, which has a history going back 115 years, is not only the oldest but also the most successful political organization in the country. In the six decades of post-I ndependent democracy, the party has nearly monopolized power through consistent electoral victories. But the Congress Party of today (run under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the widow of Rajiv Gandhi) doesnt follow the same ideology as that under Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru, having studied law at Harrods and much inspired by Bertrand Russell and other progressive thinkers of the time, belonged to a different era and espoused a different set of political values. Since his time, the condition of the party has undergone steady decline and it has now become power-hungry and devoid of content and ideals. In its early days, the party stood for such noble principles as secularism, egalitarianism and moderation. But today, this ethos is completely lacking. (Charlton, 1997, p.265) A reflection of the Congress Partys lost meridian is its electoral performance in the last two decades. Ever since the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi (the grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru) in 1991, the party could not m anage to win a majority of parliamentary seats. As a result, it is dependent on coalition partners in holding onto power. In the 2004 general elections, for example, the Leftist parties such as commie Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) gave outside support to the Congress-led coalition government. Interestingly, it was the pressure exerted by Leftist parties that led to constructive social measures and policies during this tenure. The NREGA