New peace initiatives with Pakistan should prove a vote-winner for India's ruling Hindu nationalists in expected early parliamentary elections, analysts said.
"War and peace with Pakistan both pay rich dividends in Indian elections," said political analyst Yashwant Deshmukh. "In 1999, they [the ruling party] won through the gun. In 2004, they are using doves to drum up support."
In 1999, a coalition led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an absolute majority in polls held soon after Indian troops drove Pakistan-backed infiltrators from the icy Kargil heights of disputed Kashmir.
The campaign preceding the elections was filled with anti-Pakistan rhetoric and bellicose statements.
This year, amid intense talk of advancing parliament polls to as early as late March from October when the government's mandate expires, relations between two South Asian nuclear rivals have improved dramatically.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf decided to resume formal peace talks next month when they met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Islamabad.
The agreement came less than two years after the two countries almost went to war over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, trigger of two of the three conflicts between the neighbors since they became independent from Britain in 1947.
Pakistan also promised at the Islamabad meeting that it would not allow its soil to be used as a springboard for anti-Indian attacks by militants opposed to New Delhi's rule in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The changed mood in India toward Pakistan was reflected in a weekend speech by Vajpayee to a crowd of 100,000 in southern Hyderabad city.
"We hope the agreement reached in Islamabad will be fully implemented and a new chapter opened," Vajpayee said. "I am confident that this new year has come with the message of peace. We want peace on the borders and we also want peace within the country."
Analysts feel the upbeat tone in relations with Pakistan combines well with a generally upbeat mood in the country, fuelled by a booming economy.
"Peace with Pakistan fits very well with the `feel good' factor. If you talk about terrorism and things like that, it would leave a sour taste. So it's `feel good' on both fronts -- domestic and foreign," Deshmukh said.
"Tension with Pakistan is contradictory to the feel-good factor. They don't go hand-in-hand," Deshmukh said.
Another analyst, Mahesh Rangarajan, said the BJP is undergoing an image makeover in which Pakistan-baiting has no role.
"It would be very difficult now for the Congress [the main opposition party] to attack the BJP in the election campaign as an irresponsible and a war-mongering party," Rangarajan said.
"Foreign policy successes tend to make a leader domestically strong. The Islamabad story reinforces Vajpayee's image at home."
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was