THE voters in India opted for change in elections in four states and stayed the course in another state.  Two of the states have links to Guyana – where our Indo-Guyanese ancestors originate.  The results correspond to assessments I made after visits to India.  The voters rejected incumbents who were linked to ineffectual rule and wanted to punish them. As predicted, the results showed that the leftist parties were decimated in Kerala and West Bengal where the left have governed uninterrupted since 1977.  The communists have disappointed their supporters who stood with them for decades hoping for a redistribution of wealth.  They did not adapt to the changing times as say the leftist PPP in Guyana. Incidentally, the capital of Bengal is Kolkota (Calcutta) where most indentured labourers boarded the ship to Guyana.  The first few shiploads of indentured servants to Guyana were Bengalis. The left were seen as lethargic and as having lost contact with people and failed to take their states forward in development.  They did not take action to keep up with the times, as say the left-leaning parties in other countries like Guyana, for example, to transform the economy.  As such, they paid a hefty price with the loss of power.
The communists, especially in Bengal, were wrapped up in themselves as opposed to taking measures to benefit their core supporters.  Unlike the leftist PPP in Guyana, the communists in Guyana had lost touch with the working class. The left in Kerala narrowly lost as opinion polls and my earlier writings suggested because they were more caring and were more willing to take risks with rightward policies.
The ruling Congress-DMK alliance was wiped out in Tamil Nadu whose capital is Chennai (Madras).  In the nearby Puducherry Territory, inhabited by Tamils, voters also threw out the incumbents. Madras is the other port used to board indentured servants to Guyana with about a significant amount of indentured labourers being Tamils (Madrassis as we call them in Guyana).
In the Northern state of Assam, the voters stayed the course as Hindus abandoned the Hindu nationalists in favour of the ruling Congress-Combined.
Nationally, in opinion polls, voters have expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling Congress alliance which has been embroiled in several scandals.