New Delhi
Manmohan Singh took over as India’s prime minister this week, putting his Congress party back in control after eight years. Singh, India’s first Sikh prime minister, promised that his government would reflect the “diversity and richness” of the world’s second most populous nation. Without a majority in the 545-seat Parliament, Singh had little choice but to cobble together a broad ruling coalition. The prospect that two powerful communist parties in the mix might push Singh, a 71-year-old economist, to the left caused the Bombay stock exchange to take a nose dive. But Singh’s appointment of seasoned policymakers, including Harvard-trained Palaniappan Chidambaram as finance minister, quickly buoyed the markets. Singh assumed the post after Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of slain prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, announced that she would not become prime minister as expected.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Judge rejects top state charges in Mangione caseSpeed Read If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in state prison
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in GazaSpeed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
Trump allies reportedly poised to buy TikTokSpeed Read Under the deal, U.S. companies would own about 80% of the company
