In Spite of the Gods by Edward Luce

Author:Edward Luce [Edward, Luce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-38953-4
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2010-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

* Indira shut down India’s independent media, imprisoned up to 100,000 political opponents, and bypassed almost all the procedures of constitutional government during the state of emergency. It was India’s only real modern taste of autocracy.

* Unlike his father, Rajiv, Rahul did complete his Cambridge M Phil degree (the equivalent of a master’s), which was in development studies. Nehru was a formidable reader and possessed an acute intellect. Rajiv was not a reader of books. Neither, it seems, is Rahul. Indira also showed impatience with study. She did not complete her degree at Oxford University. Sonia did not attend university.

* Each party has a visual symbol that enables illiterate voters to know where to place their mark. The Congress Party has the hand, the BJP has the lotus, Samajwadi has the bicycle, and so on.

† Indira was shot dead by her two Sikh bodyguards. A few weeks earlier Indira had ordered the Indian army to storm the Golden Temple in the town of Amritsar. The temple, which is the most sacred place for Sikhs, had been under the control of separatist Sikh militants. When Indira was killed, thousands of Sikhs were murdered in the following riots. Rajiv said: “When a great tree falls, the ground shakes.”

* India’s elections are staggered to enable the paramilitary forces to concentrate on different areas of potential instability, rather than spread themselves too thin for a one-phase poll. In contrast, the result is known within an hour or two of the counting since India’s voting system is fully electronic and is collated by computer. It makes a pleasant contrast to Florida in 2000.

* According to constant Indian media reports, Rahul has a Spanish girlfriend, Veronique, who has only very rarely been photographed with him in public. It is presumed she is Catholic, and, if they were to marry, her religion would entail inevitable political risks for Rahul.

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