This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-143, July Aug 2004.)
Politics in India, including that of the NGO sector, is highly polarized in every way. You are expected to be either firmly “pro” or steadfastly “against” on every conceivable matter — whether the issue is dams or disinvestment. It is the same with evaluating the performance of parties and governments. MANUSHI has tried its best to deal with each issue on its own merits and evaluate the performance of movements, parties, governments and other organisations on the basis of actual performance in diverse areas, rather than pass sweeping judgments and be automatically ‘anti’ or ‘pro’ any party or organisation.
In issue No.142 my article “The Unexpected Verdict” outlined the varied reasons for the well deserved defeat of the BJP led NDA government in the parliamentary elections of 2004 and describes how they messed up in important areas. While their defeat was in many ways a welcome development, it is important that we give the NDA government credit for some of the positive contributions that they made. In this second part, I discuss some major achievements and important breakthroughs. We invite our readers to tell us if these two articles together provide a balanced balance sheet…