Парламентские выборы в Индии: новые политические реалии

Abstract

Parliamentary elections in India were held from April 7 to May 12, 2014 and ended with a convincing victory of conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and a crushing defeat for the Indian National Congress (INC) from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) created in 2004. BJP won 282 seats in Parliament for the first time in 30 years which was sufficient for the formation of a single-party government, while Congress has only 44 seats – the lowest result for all years of the independence of Republic of India. The election results are natural and reflect the real balance of power in the political arena of the country at the moment. BJP victory was largely achieved thanks to the wide support its leader Narendra Modi received from the Indian electorate. The defeat of the Congress shows a deep and prolonged crisis in the party and the inability of the current representatives of the dynasty of Nehru-Gandhi to cope with it due to lack of political will and constructive ideas that meet the modern needs of the society. Numerous regional parties are still limited in scope, which narrows the chance of their political influence to the borders of one state and prevents the creation of a coalition that is ready to compete with the NDA and UPA. The key issue for Narendra Modi as Prime Minister will be the problem of development, economic growth and achievement of economic self-sufficiency – the slogan is highly attractive to the younger generation of voters. Being an explicit pragmatist, Modi is going to manage the country on the principle that if something does not serve the interests of India, especially the interests of economic growth, India would not do this. According to many experts, his government in the short and long term context will focus on such areas as agriculture, energy, law and order, administrative reform and international relations. Narendra Modi describes Russia as a "time-tested and reliable friend, who supported India in difficult periods of its history, and a major partner in building the foundations of India's defense capability." He intends to raise the Russian-Indian relations to a higher level and is looking for a meeting with V. Putin before the end of this year.