BBC: India to Get its Own Green Party

I am grateful to Dr Mayraj Fahim, a strong supporter of this blog and a local government expert in the USA, for the following link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8221698.stm The idea for a Green Party in India is ripe - the country faces some of the worst environmental degradation that any region on earth does, and shortsighted governments and antiquated laws are almost entirely to blame for the mess. SO far, people like the founder of the proposed new party, have used the Indian Courts to get their way, and it is important that a political party manages to set an agenda and fight this battle from within the country's Parliament and State Legislatures.

That said, I am not convinced that this entire process is likely to be successful for mainly historical reasons (though my views are from the past and things may well have changed by now) that I shall detail. Some years ago, I saw an attempt during the worst of India's Socialist years under Indira Gandhi and later under her equally thuggish son Rajiv, to set an agenda that would take India to the brink of ruin. While that, fortunately, didn't succeed, neither did attempts by western minded Indians to politically import western concepts into India. Back then, leading Indian lawyer Sriram Panchu tried starting what he called the "Indian Labour Party," modelled upon the British Labour Party, in what could only be described as a total failure. The name was recently usurped by Andhra Pradesh film star CHiranjeevi for his own party though I have no idea what visions Chiranjeevi has for his own proposed political future. I do think that the new Indian green Party faces a similarly dismal future and that it is likely to end up forgotten in time, especially in a state like West Bengal, which has a powerful and well-entrenched Communist Party and a powerful opposition in the Trinamool COngress led by the charismatic Mamta Bannerjee.

I do wish that my views are proven wrong, though! A Green political movement is something that India sorely needs.