In any event, a day after the vote in Parliament, the principal destabilisers, the Congress and the Left are far from suggesting an alternative arrangement. They have not only destabilised the Vajpayee Government, which was backed by the mandate of 1998, they have unleashed instability across the country. The stock markets have crashed, wiping out more than Rs.40,000 crores of small investors' money. Investor confidence has been shaken. The rupee is under pressure, losing to the dollar by the day.
Industry is in a tizzy.
Every citizen of India is fazed by the developments, feeling cheated and insulted by the hijackers of their mandate. Above all, India's image as a democracy has taken a rude battering. This is the fourth time that a Government is being pulled down in three years. The Congress has been the chief instigator on all four occasions. New Delhi 110 001.