Less than 48 hours are left for the world's largest democracy to vote in the first phase of elections. Campaigning has ended in 124 seats across 15 states and two Union territories. It is a remarkable election says Britain's Independent newspaper, with over 1,000 parties and over 700 million voters. But apart from remarking on the spectacle, have the hate speeches, lack of ideology and money power shown the international community a rather sorry face of the world's largest democracy?
With so much happening on the Indian political ground, CNN-IBN's Face The Election debates: Is the world really concerned about the Indian elections?
On the panel of experts to discuss the issue were Economist, Columnist, author, political commentator, Lord Meghnad Desai; Newsweek International Editor, Foreign Affairs Analyst, author, Fareed Zakaria and Fortune Magazine correspondent John Elliott.
At the beginning of the show 44 per cent of the voters agreed that the world is really concerned about the Indian elections, while 56 per cent disagreed.
Global eye on Indian elections
Zakaria from New York said that the world is not paying much attention to the Indian elections but that is happening in a very positive sense because everyone believes that India is a matured democracy and there would be political stability after the polls.
"People believe that India would muddle through these elections no matter what they turn out," Zakaria stated adding that most of the nations like the US would be concerned only to the extend that it would be a Congress dominated government or a BJP dominated government.
Agreeing with Zakaria, Desai said that eventually people believe that India is going to be alright by itself because India has a proven record of how to conduct its democracy.
However, he also said that there are things which are catching people's attention towards Indian elections. "People are intrigued very much with the new forces which have come up much more this time than ever before. How the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Mayawati have risen so much. "
"People are also concerned about terrorism development and caste politics in India," Desai added.
Elliott differed in his opinion and said that people are concerned which government will come to power in India because they are worried that what will it say in G20, how will it react in WTO, what will it do for global climate etc.
A global perceptive
Most of the political parties have released their manifestos by now but are there actually any significant differences that can be seen among their manifestos.
Giving his personal opinion, Elliott said there are hardly any policy issues to be taken up for debates and therefore when he reads the headlines all manifesto look the same to him.
Zakaria didn't react to the manifesto bit but looking from the US point of view, he said that the US doesn't have any problem with either of the governments - BJP or Congress - coming to the power. He said that the issue which has come up in front of the US and the rest of the world is the religious tolerance of the two governments.
"The contrast of the two (BJP and Congress) has been highlighted by the two Gandhis - Rahul and Varun," explained Zakaria and added that the two have grabbed a lot of western media attention.
Disagreeing with Zakaria, Desai said that more than religious tolerance people in the West are more concerned about the Christian minority in India after Kandhamal violence as most of the people in the West follow Christianity.
Indo-US ties
Keeping his positive spirits high, Zakaria said that he can see many more years of strong Indo-US relationships.
"If India can embrace a modern looking future it would see a very long productive relationship with the US for many-many years for come," he added.
Commenting on Zakaria's statement, Desai said that America should remember that their political condition was also as chaotic as India come years ago before it got sorted out but the good thing is that India decides its government on its own and is friends with the US.
Final SMS/Web poll: Is the world really concerned about the Indian elections?
Yes: 35 per cent
No: 65 per cent
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