Word: janata
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...chances for the Janata Party to even approach majority status are slim, but the party moved a step closer to challenging Congress rule last week when a powerful political leader, Agriculture Minister Jagjivan Ram, quit the cabinet and joined the party's ranks...
...caste's votes. Having risen to heights in the government unheard of for someone in his caste, Ram enjoys a large and devoted following among the untouchables. Although members of the caste have traditionally given strong support to Congress, Ram has an excellent chance of luring them over to Janata and seriously eroding Gandhi's power base...
also be used to manufacture votes, something the Congress Party has not been above doing in the past. Even if Janata can generate widespread popular support, there is some doubt as to whether the party can translate that support into votes. The irregularities of Indian politics, a country whose corrupt electoral system makes the late Richard J. Daley's machine pale by comparison, have led many of the opposition leaders to resign themselves to an inevitable Congress victory...
Fernandes, the socialist leader whom Gandhi has yet to release from prison, sees the election as a ruse designed to generate favorable propaganda in the West. From prison last week he castigated the Janata Party and other opposition leaders for participating in "the sham election." Even through the thick prison walls, Fernandes' message came across loud and clear: participation in the March elections, so long as emergency rule remained in effect, would serve only to legitimize the Gandhi regime, a legitimization it most certainly does not deserve...
Indian politics will no doubt continue under a cloud of repression for some time to come. Gandhi has no intention of relinquishing the reins of the government to any of her opponents, regardless of the election results. The Janata has touched and stirred in the Indian people a chord of resentment against the Congress Party that is stronger than any since the party's formation after independence in 1947. Such sentiments are particularly noteworthy. existing despite an Indian economy that is healthier than it has beer in years. Still, Janata has little chance of gaining enough seats to sway government...