India’s Post-Election Turmoil Continues; New Pm Named Third Government In As Many Weeks Comprised Of Lower Castes, Southern States
India got its third government in three weeks Saturday when H.D. Deve Gowda took the oath as prime minister along with a cabinet that is tilted toward lower castes and southern states, both of which have long felt locked out of power in the nation’s capital.
Gowda, India’s 12th prime minister, is the second to come from the south and the second not from the top of India’s complex hierarchy of castes - which rank India’s Hindu majority at birth by social status, religious purity and traditional occupation. He is from a middle caste of landholding farmers.
About two-thirds of the 21 cabinet ministers - whose specific portfolios were not announced - belong to lower castes or to religious minorities that do not recognize caste distinctions. Only one could be identified as a Brahman, the highest caste and the one that has traditionally dominated the nation’s political and intellectual elites. Nearly half of the new ministers, including Gowda, are from three southern states.
About 70 percent of India’s population of 920 million belongs to lower castes that remain, after several centuries of oppression, at the bottom of the social and economic ladder, even though the constitution bans discrimination and provides quotas facilitating access to government jobs and education. Many lower-caste voters have come to support regional parties that promise them greater opportunity.
Southern Indians, who have a cultural heritage distinct from those in the north, have long complained of being shortchanged by the central government in funds, project approvals and top posts. The government’s emphasis on Hindi, a language spoken primarily in the north, has also rankled southerners.
After days of jockeying behind the scenes, Gowda’s United Front reached agreement on a cabinet before announcing ministerial portfolios or settling the details of a social justice and federalism agenda, which is now scheduled to be announced Tuesday. Previewing the contents at his first news conference as prime minister, Gowda said priorities will include rural housing, better roads, safe drinking water and stronger states’ rights to levy taxes.
Gowda sought to reassure other governments and international markets of the front’s support for a free-market economy, saying that the foreign trade and investment policies that Rao initiated in 1991 generally would continue. The campaign manifestoes of Gowda’s party, the social democratic Janata Dal, and other leftist parties in his coalition have called for weeding out foreign investment proposals that could jeopardize domestic enterprises.
The coalition could end up reflecting the twin priorities that Gowda had pursued since 1994 as chief minister of Karnataka state, where he courted private foreign investments but also pushed public subsidies of agriculture.