Feeling the impact of Egypt in India

[Hannah Bell]

"SINHAASAN KHAALI Karo..." ("Vacate the throne...") Thus read the front-page headline of the February 2 issue of the Hindi newspaper Navbharat Times in India, superimposed on a photograph of the previous day's historic rally of over a million people in Tahrir Square in Egypt.

What's significant is not just that this mainstream paper was defending the democracy movement in Egypt 10 days before Hosni Mubarak resigned--and days before the Indian government took a stand as it waited for a sign from its new chums in Washington.

More than this, it's that the Navbharat Times--the Hindi newspaper with the largest circulation in Delhi and Mumbai--was making a direct link between demands in Egypt and historic struggles for democracy in India over decades, referring to the popular slogan: "Vacate the throne, the people are coming." The slogan strikes a deep chord--recalling, for instance, the mass upsurge of the "JP movement," for independence activist and politician Jayprakash Narayan.

That said, there is a keen awareness here of the differences between Egypt and India. These differences have led most of the people I've talked to say that while they are tremendously inspired by Egypt and think that India needs a revolution, they don't think it's about to happen any time soon. This fits, by and large, with opinions in print and online...

http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/08/impact-of-egypt-in-india