Cheering the Prime Minister

At the India Today conclave, Dr. Manmohan Singh said the following as part of a very important speech:

If there is an ‘idea of India’ that the world should remember us by and regard us for, it is the idea of an inclusive and open society, a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society. All countries of the world will evolve in this direction as we move forward into the 21st century. Liberal democracy is the natural order of social and political organisation in today’s world. All alternate systems, authoritarian and majoritarian in varying degrees, are an aberration. Democratic methods yield the most enduring solutions to even the most intractable problems.

This is essentially neo-conservative thought -- we are thrilled to hear this from the Prime Minister of India. Perhaps the pendulum hasn't swung as far as we feared. Now it's time to back up these terrific words with concrete actions to promote, and where necessary enforce, democracy -- starting with our own benighted South Asian neighbourhood.