久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

Indians surprised as Vajpayee heads for defeat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-13 16:31

Indian voters expressed surprise on Thursday about the prospect of elder statesman Atal Behari Vajpayee losing a national election and Italian-born Sonia Gandhi replacing him as the country's next leader.

With results from the marathon election expected in hours, vote tallies showed Vajpayee's coalition heading for a stunning defeat, while the Congress party of the Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty gained far more than predicted in opinion polls.

"I could not have dreamed that Congress would come to power. All the polls said BJP alliance would be number one. It seems Congress has done some sort of magic," said Samir Mondal, a private security guard in Calcutta.

"It is unreal," he said, shaking his head.

A month ago, opinion polls showed Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coasting to victory and the opposition Congress party dead in the water.

But Congress has been revitalised by Sonia Gandhi and her popular children, Rahul and Priyanka, the new generation of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, who drew huge crowds on the campaign trail in the key northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

"I still can't comprehend it. I am in shock," said Subhash Chand, a young Congress supporter outside Sonia Gandhi's Delhi home.

"This kind of a lead was never expected. This is all because of Rahul and Priyanka. They sent the message from Uttar Pradesh to the entire country. The youth of this country are with Rahul and not with Vajpayee," he said.

Sonia is the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1991. The BJP had launched blistering campaign attacks pointing out that she was not born in India, but this tactic appeared to have failed.

Rajiv Gandhi was the son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and grandson of Jawaharal Nehru, the country's first prime minister. Between them, the three ruled India for 35 of the 57 years the country has been independent.

But many were anguished that Vajpayee would have to leave office. Retired professor Sudha Udeshi said he was irreplaceable.

"Without Vajpayee as the prime minister, the country will face a big blow," Udeshi, 65, said in the commercial hub Bombay.

"There is nobody like him, a liberal leader who could tackle Pakistan and push ahead for peace initiatives," she said after being glued to the television watching results.

WORRY OVER PEACE PROCESS

Mushtaq Ahmad, a doctor in Kashmir, also worried about the fate of a peace process with Pakistan championed by Vajpayee at the head of his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition.

"If NDA loses, the peace initiative with Pakistan and in Kashmir will be hurt," Mushtaq Ahmad said in Srinagar, capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, where Muslim militants backed by Pakistan are fighting Indian rule.

But another Kashmiri, Noor-ul-Qamrian, 35, said he did not care who won. "It will be business as usual at the centre. The indifference of New Delhi towards Kashmir will continue."

Vajpayee called the election six months early confident a booming economy, warming ties with old foe Pakistan and a bumper harvest would guarantee his alliance another five years.

But voters and analysts say his "India shining" slogan came across as too smug and the country's rural majority has turned its back on the ruling coalition saying reforms and booming growth had only benefitted the urban middle class.

H. Narasimhan, a retired bank employee in Delhi, was scathing about the record of Vajpayee's BJP.

"This is a lesson to most second-rung BJP leaders that they need to get out of TV screens and get on to the roads. The rural masses have rejected the computer culture the NDA was propagating," Narasimhan said.

"To them reforms mean water, food and clothing, which the NDA has failed to deliver in the villages," he said.

In the western state of Gujarat, rocked by violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims in 2002 that the BJP is accused of fuelling, Mehboob Sheikh was overjoyed the BJP had done badly.

"I am very, very thrilled that the BJP has lost. I think the bad days are over for the Muslims and I can see days of relief and hope that there will be no repetition of what happened in 2002," said Mehboob, a teacher at a madrassa, or Islamic school.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

US lawmakers say new abuse photos even worse

 

   
 

Wen pushes for Irish partnership

 

   
 

Taiwan spy sentenced to 5-year in prison

 

   
 

Separation means dead end for Chen

 

   
 

Corruption's long and winding road

 

   
 

Two more US soldiers face court-martial

 

   
  Indians surprised as Vajpayee heads for defeat
   
  New prison abuse images outrage lawmakers
   
  Some Arabs say beheading justified
   
  No need for quick tanker deal - Adviser
   
  Syria criticizes sanctions, seeks talks
   
  WWII code-breakers tackle inscription
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Scandal over humiliation of Iraqi prisoners  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美影院网站视频观看 | 国产精品观看 | 她也啪在线视频精品网站 | 精品xxxxxbbbb欧美中文 | 男人的天堂在线观看入口 | 国产主播福利精品一区二区 | 日本道在线播放 | 国产精品免费观看视频播放 | 亚洲第一色网 | 日韩精品一区二区三区免费视频 | 国产区精品 | 边接电话边做国语高清对白 | 亚洲国产天堂久久综合图区 | 手机在线亚洲 | 国产高清视频免费 | 国内xxxx乱子另类 | 中文字幕一区二区三区 精品 | 曰本aaaaa毛片午夜网站 | 免费黄色美女视频 | 欧美高清视频手机在在线 | 欧美大片毛片大片 | 九九精品国产兔费观看久久 | 99在线免费观看 | 欧美a在线播放 | 美女黄色毛片免费看 | 亚洲人成免费网站 | 一级毛片美国一级j毛片不卡 | 日韩在线观看一区二区三区 | 日韩在线不卡一区在线观看 | 久久3| 一区在线免费 | 亚洲欧美日本综合 | 91精品国产免费久久久久久青草 | 亚洲欧美综合一区二区三区四区 | avove旗袍丝袜高跟啪啪 | 日本免费在线观看视频 | 国产一级精品高清一级毛片 | 日韩精品一区二区三区中文字幕 | 国产片自拍 | 欧美视频在线观看免费精品欧美视频 | 99久久99视频 |