An anti-corruption movement sweeping India has dealt a serious but not yet deadly blow to the ruling Congress party's chances of sweeping back to power in elections in 2014.
Almost two weeks of massive protests led by 74-year-old self-styled Gandhian activist Anna Hazare have exposed a party riven by a lack of leadership, indecision, poor judgment and out of touch with the concerns of a country of 1.2 billion people.
"In the hour of its greatest need, the Congress's top leaders have failed the party. Anna Hazare's movement threatens the survival of an UPA (coalition government) on the brink of breakdown," news magazine India Today said.
The Congress party of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, in power for most of the time since independence in 1947, must find a way to rebound for key state elections next year and national elections in 2014.
Recent opinion polls show the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) edging ahead of the Congress party after the Hazare movement threw an unknown element into national politics, the middle-class vote.
Hazare rallied millions of predominantly urban middle class, angry at the government's inability to crack down on rampant corruption, made evident by the arrest of a minister and the poor state of infrastructure and services in a country that has grown at around eight percent per annum over the last few years.
The crisis has also taken a toll on governance. A series of key bills, including one on land acquisition reform and plans to open up the retail sector to foreign companies, has stalled.
Economic growth is set to slow over the next few years, with the central bank, cutting its forecast to below eight percent for this year, a minimum requirement to lift millions out of poverty and repair or rebuild crumbling roads and facilities.
Almost two weeks of massive protests led by 74-year-old self-styled Gandhian activist Anna Hazare have exposed a party riven by a lack of leadership, indecision, poor judgment and out of touch with the concerns of a country of 1.2 billion people.
"In the hour of its greatest need, the Congress's top leaders have failed the party. Anna Hazare's movement threatens the survival of an UPA (coalition government) on the brink of breakdown," news magazine India Today said.
The Congress party of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, in power for most of the time since independence in 1947, must find a way to rebound for key state elections next year and national elections in 2014.
Recent opinion polls show the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) edging ahead of the Congress party after the Hazare movement threw an unknown element into national politics, the middle-class vote.
Hazare rallied millions of predominantly urban middle class, angry at the government's inability to crack down on rampant corruption, made evident by the arrest of a minister and the poor state of infrastructure and services in a country that has grown at around eight percent per annum over the last few years.
The crisis has also taken a toll on governance. A series of key bills, including one on land acquisition reform and plans to open up the retail sector to foreign companies, has stalled.
Economic growth is set to slow over the next few years, with the central bank, cutting its forecast to below eight percent for this year, a minimum requirement to lift millions out of poverty and repair or rebuild crumbling roads and facilities.
