Another Phase: Us Media

The American media yesterday described the fall of the United Front government as another phase in an uneasy transition of the worlds largest democracy from one-party domination by Congress to more competitive national politics.

The media also viewed the possibility of passage of the widely praised budget presented by finance minister P Chidambaram as a good sign.

The Washington Post said that the UF government led by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had achieved its biggest successes in foreign policy, reopening bilateral talks with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue and reaching long-term agreement to share the Ganges river water with Bangladesh.

In a despatch, the New York Times said: For many, the political disarray has come as a symbol of the wider malaise afflicting India as it approaches its 50th anniversary of independence.

Gowda, the paper said, came to bring a populist touch to Indias elitist political traditions.

It added that he intended to use his tenure to attack deep-rooted problems of poverty, illiteracy and disease.

But he spent much of his time manoeuvring to keep his tottering coalition together, drawing disparaging comparisons from political commentators to the more charismatic leaders of the past, including Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi, the paper said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Indian ambassador to US Naresh Chandra met deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott and assured him that there was no danger to Indias economic reforms.