INDIA IN 2000 A Respite from Instability

Abstract

For India, 2000 was a year of portents that followed no pattern. On the eve of the millennium, the once-dominant Indian National Congress had lost its third consecutive general election. Moreover, India had completed 10 years without a Nehru/Gandhi-lineage prime minister. The year brought the 50th anniversary of the country’s democratic Constitution and saw Atal Bihari Vajpayee become the longest-serving non-Congress prime minister in Indian history. One might therefore view 2000 as a year in which India finally outgrew dynastic politics and one-party dominance. Yet, by year’s end, another individual from the Nehru/Gandhi political dynasty was overwhelmingly reelected president of the Congress Party and the Congress in turn was reviving electorally in several states. Internationally, too, events of symbolic importance pointed one way while others suggested less change than met the eye. In March, the first visit by a U.S. president to India in over two decades was hailed as a breakthrough in relations between the two countries. In October, though, a week-long state visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin reestablished Russia as India’s principal military supplier and diplomatic ally. Nestled in between these markers were occurrences that testified to both the deepening of Indian political institutions and the continuing challenges they face, pointing both to the possibility of new policy directions and the powerful influence of past legacies. In turn, this survey will address national politics, state politics, domestic unrest and its impact on India’s relations with its neighbors, India’s relations with the rest of the world, and the Indian economy.