As brilliant as India's success in IT (and growing progress in biotech)has been, the rest of the economy has not ben liberalised much at all and in fact the success in this one area overshadows mediocrity in the rest.



You can't drag a nation of 1 billion people into the modern age by success in one area alone.



China's had two decades of economic reform while India has yet to get seriously started.



And actually most Asian countries (e.g. South Korea, China - Japan being the exception because of WW2) are very nationalistic. So expect Hindu nationalism to thrive as the economy does since there is a distinct resentment of the power and wealth of the West while India remains a relative pygmy despite its' proud history.

Ali:



But in Japan, for instance, nationalism concists of closing the society, not in killing a significant portion of the population. It's still a disaster, but a low key and slow moving rather than a bloddy one.

Whilst I agree with your point about India, I would probably have used the term 'fundamentalism' over 'nationalism' with regards to the BJP and hindutva.



As I've said before though, in a comment here I believe, the rise of India as an economic power does not make the Chinese rise a myth. Time will time I suppose. I would posit that we are seeing two 'superpowers' germinating, assuming they don't screw it up (let's hope China 'screws' up and becomes more free and democratic though).



It's up to the Indians themselves to wean themselves from a narrow 'hindu nationalism'. Let's hope they do. In the meantime, we should be careful not to encourage them so much that they end up completely antagonised.

China though lacks the deeply ingrained Britishness, that makes India at least try to live up to Western standards.

Having seen India's IT sector firsthand I agree it is something to be reckoned with. But as Mr. Choudhury indicated the rest of the economy still has a long way to go.



It is just about impossible to fire a worker in India, even with cause. Factories are not allowed to shut down without permission. The banking system is archaic. The industry and banking sectors are run a few family-run oligarchys (e.g., the Tata clan) with incestuous ties to the government.



But with all those handicaps it still has a brighter long-term future than China (IMHO).

Whatever else, India will probably be more stable than China in the future especially since it is already a democracy with a relatively free press and fewer demographic problems.



But it sill has a long, long way to go before realising its' potential.

Hindu nationalism - or pride - may be the lever that finally gets India to give up socialism and liberalize. Once it sinks in that countries with liberal economies prosper and become great, while countries mired in socialism remain poor and weak, the Hindu nationalists may turn toward freedom just as Russian nationalists like Putin are doing so.