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stronger position in the international arena during its rule. Confident about
its standing with the Indian electorate and armed with its India Shining
advertising campaign highlighting its accomplishments, the BJP called for
elections in April/May 2004. Party leaders, in a buoyant mood, had no
doubt they would be voted back to power. Instead, to the astonishment of
BJP politicians and members of the urban electorate, the party suffered an
unexpected defeat. The Congress Party-led coalition, with support coming
from the marginalised grassroots electorate, formed the new government
with Dr Manmohan Singh as prime minister.
Foreign Relations
India s exceptional growth in the software and IT-enabled services sector has
helped it play a greater role in global business, which in turn has enabled it
to forge closer economic and diplomatic ties with other countries. A case
in point is the United States. India, as a non-aligned nation, has traditionally
been wary of aligning itself with any power bloc, but since 1998, when US
President Bill Clinton attempted to cement ties with India after its nuclear
156
tests, the two countries have drawn closer. India has also warmed up towards
China, underscored by an expansion in two-way trade, which has nearly
doubled from 2001 to 2004.
India s relations with its neighbour Pakistan have been turbulent in
the decades since independence, with the two nations having gone to war
several times over the thorny issue of Kashmir. India has voiced concerns
about what it claims are Pakistan-sponsored terrorist strikes on its territory,
with one of the most virulent being an attack on the Indian Parliament on
13 December 2001. The two sides have been holding foreign secretary-level
talks as part of their ongoing peace process without making much headway.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez
Musharraf met on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit in Havana, Cuba,
in September 2006 and agreed to create a joint anti-terrorist mechanism
to tackle the problem.
Continuity and Change
India presents an intriguing paradox of continuity and change as it forges
ahead. Even while it rapidly transforms itself into an IT powerhouse of the
21st century, it remains steeped in culture and tradition, a land of snake
charmers and folklore, the vigorous Bhangra dance and colourful batik.
Its multilinguistic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, an outcome of
its complex origins thousands of years ago, has given India a fascinating
diversity. A country of over one billion people, it is more like a continent
straddling the mighty Himalayas on one side and the Deccan Plateau on
the other. India s borders have changed countless times in its tumultuous
history from the ancient period when its territory covered parts of
Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, to the present day
when it is the seventh largest country in the world, with these same nations
as its neighbours.
India s multiplicity extends to its languages, religions, arts, crafts, cuisine
and music, which differ from one state to another and from one region
to the next. It is this rich cultural mosaic that continues to give India its
identity and singularity.
THE RESURGENCE OF INDIA
157
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