Upset makes Europe sit up and take note

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">LONDON: The all-changing power of Indian democracy, backlit by the dynastic Gandhi glow, has burst suddenly and unexpectedly on Britain and the European mainland. <br /><br />Till now, and till the exit polls, the election results seemed predictable and dull, ie, a BJP win, so few were interested, India expert Dr Gareth Price at the Royal Institute of International Affairs said.<br /><br />But suddenly, there is a raging curiosity about the Gandhi glitz and what Rupert Murdoch''s Sky Television kept calling throughout Thursday, the "biggest political upset in the history of Independent India".<br /><br />Says a surprised and excited Enrico Franciscini of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">La Republica</span>: "Italy has never had a woman prime minister, so it would be remarkable if Sonia, an Italian woman, were to become prime minister, not of Italy, but of the world''s largest democracy." <br /><br />It''s as if an Egyptian were to govern Britain, added Michael Binyon, diplomatic editor of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Times</span>.<br /><br />RIIA''s Price said the international arena would watch to see if defeat would turn the BJP into a more radical, more hardline Hindu party. As the surprise results started coming in, relayed early by BBC, the press began planning a delayed efflorescence.<br /><br />A thousand Sonia Gandhi biographies were set to bloom. A hundred other comparisons with the Kennedys were set to be launched. <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Guardian </span>was working on the leaves and shoots of a Gandhi-Nehru family tree. <br /><br />On Friday, after India''s great political churning, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Times </span>will write and run a leader focussing on the free-market forces of democracy. <br /><br />With public school colloquialism, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Guardian </span>said it plans to give the story a fair whack. Slogans like ''India Shining'' don''t mean much, said an editor.</div> </div>