
With more than 600 million people eligible to vote, India's 1999 general elections started the weekend of September 5 and will run through October 3

By B. Ram Ramgopal
Special to CNN Interactive

(CNN) -- The sights and sounds of democracy, Indian-style, are in full view as the South Asian giant holds its third general election in as many years. With one-sixth of all humanity deciding its destiny through the ballot box, the world's eyes are taking in a range of visions: the feverish campaigning; the infectious euphoria of voting and the almost miraculous outcome as decided by a country that is half illiterate.

The extraordinary experiment of Indian democracy, with its elaborate logistics and contained chaos, might prompt outsiders to ask: Why bother? Could there be such a thing as too much democracy? And what price democracy?

To a large group of Indians, however, there is no question of any other way. The tenets of democracy were laid down 50 years ago, following centuries of colonial rule, and have survived through all the country's religious, ethnic and linguistic strife. The elections are estimated to cost $1 billion -- just about $1 for every Indian. It is, says chief election commissioner M.S. Gill, a small price to pay for democracy.

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"Would Americans or those who believe in democracy -- or claim to believe more in democracy -- ever say: 'Let's not have elections -- because they're too expensive?' I don't think so," Gill says.

India's tumultuous politics are a reflection of a multi-faceted society attempting to break free of a feudal and caste-based past.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, once spoke about the "dream of unity [that] has occupied the mind of India since the dawn of civilization." Only in the past 50 years, however, has that unity found expression through the form of the Indian nation-state.

With the exception of the game of cricket, there are few institutions that have helped sear the modern idea of India into the public consciousness. One of those institutions, undoubtedly, is the national parliament.

'A silent, social revolution'

Where is Indian democracy today? Are the frequent elections the consequence of a frustrated electorate, not willing to give any political party the opportunity to rule? Or is it a systemic failure attributed to a government structure that provides an elected parliament but no directly elected head of state? Or are the newly assertive lower castes serving notice on the ruling elite that their support can no longer be taken for granted?


Indian elections are won and lost in the countryside, where approximately two-thirds of India's 1 billion people live

"There is a silent, social revolution taking place," says political analyst Amitabh Mattoo, "whereby the lower castes are coming up and acquiring positions of political and economic power."

The Congress Party has dominated Indian politics for most of the 52 years since independence from Britain. The party has ruled the country for all but six years of that span and, significantly, Congress is the only party that has served its full five-year term in office.

The amalgam of parties that make up the opposition to Congress has come to resemble pieces in a kaleidoscope -- now coming together in a burst of color, now breaking apart into tinier fragments. Three major groupings have emerged: Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, and the center-left parties (including the socialists and the communists).

All three parties have their own limitations. Congress, in the absence of a strong leader linked to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, has struggled to find a mass following. In Sonia Gandhi it now has a leader with the right family name. The question is whether a demoralized party can mount a challenge to the BJP, which is riding high on the diplomatic victory over Pakistan in Kashmir.

The BJP has yet to live down its violent reputation. Its party workers and those of its more aggressive Hindu nationalist allies were linked to the destruction in 1992 of the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque that nationalist Hindus say is the birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram.

After a year in power the party has moderated its public vitriol against Muslims, but in recent months mobs have attacked Christian missionaries across India in what critics call a campaign of intimidation. Official inquiries have found no link to the BJP, but many analysts say these groups have been emboldened by the BJP's presence in government.

The center-leftists have struggled to build on a narrow base of support among the lower castes and in some regions. Their message, however, does not have the national resonance of the other two groups. They emphasize platforms of social justice, but like almost every other political grouping in India, they pledge support to the economic reforms that have begun to transform the Indian economy.

No tiger, but an economic elephant


In some places Indian voters are using electronic voting machines for the first time

The key to India's progress lies in its economy. For years its industries and capital markets remained isolated from the rest of the world, while successive governments dispensed favors to a few industrialists. Now, after a decade of reforms, India's annual economic growth has reached a respectable 5-6 percent.

In Asian economic terms, it may not be a tiger, but it's certainly an elephant beginning to move. It still attracts only about one-tenth of the direct overseas investment that China does, and its trade accounts for less than 1 percent of the global volume. But the potential remains large.

With a large educated technical workforce (huge numbers of which are in the U.S. software industry), a system based in Western law and a fast-growing middle-class, it will be one of the emerging markets that dominates commerce in the 21st century.

As a regional superpower, India has many bridges to build -- foremost with arch rival Pakistan and to a lesser extent with China. A newly focused international policy is bringing it closer to the United States. But New Delhi's dreams of becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council suffered a setback after the nuclear tests last year. Relations with the West can only head upward.


Anti-election protests in the disputed Kashmir region have kept many voters away from the polls

According to several estimates, India has already passed the 1 billion mark in population. That status, however, only underscores the fact huge numbers of its people remain in poverty, without access to clean drinking water, to basic education or to a roof over their heads. The country has made strides in extending the average life span from 39 to 63, but more than 320 million of its people are so abjectly poor that they cannot get the equivalent of $1 a day to buy basic food.

Those are the very kind of issues that have sparked armed revolutions in other nations. But for the majority of Indians, for half a century, the weapon of choice has been not the bullet, but the ballot. And the world can only hope that this democratic revolution can have a happy ending.

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