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This was the pronouncement of Prime Minister Monmaham Singh, upon the victory of the coalition composed of his party and its congressional allies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the legislative elections that began on April 16 and lasted nearly a month in India.

At the swearing in as Prime Minister for another 5 years, Singh said that the economy was priority in order to isolate the effects of the crisis. India has not achieved strong economic growth, experiencing a drop in exports (in a country that relies on domestic consumption and exports mainly manufactured goods amounting to only 19% of GDP) and an increase in unemployment in the rural sectors, textiles and services. The fact that the finance sector in India lauded the victory is a strong endorsement for the administration’s second term. The PM’s reelection is an indicator of stability for the next few years and shows strong support for the measures this complex country needs, after the opposition in his first term from leftist parties (Communist), in a complex system composed of more than 300 parties.

It is very difficult to predict whether the promises of growth and the extension of benefits to the poor majority can be fulfilled in the coming five years, considering not only the context of global economic crisis, but the complexity of the subcontinent of more than one hundred thousand million people, where almost two Indias: the northeast poor (Orissa with 43% of the population that does not have basic public services), while in Punjaj, in the northwest, there is 39% poverty. Urban India is more prosperous, the product of economic liberalization initiated by Singh in the early nineties as the Minister of Finance, which specializes in software services, outsourcing and IT. It is the modern India, with high levels of education in hard sciences, outstanding scientists and mathematicians.

The complexity of the system is also reflected in conflicts that arose during independence, dividing the subcontinent into two nations: India, which despite being declared a secular state, has strong influences from different religions, Buddhism is predominant; and Muslim Pakistan, now under the influence of fundamentalist terrorist forces. India has unresolved conflicts with their neighbors, who must control their aspirations to be a future power. The caste system, abolished by the Constitution and, in practice, lessened in the more developed cities, still exists for "Dalit" untouchables, corresponding to the lower classes and now turning to Buddhism, which does not accept the caste system.

India has a duality. It is perhaps best explained by the famous German philosopher and physician Albert Schweitzer, who, in his book "Indian Thought and Its Development," explains how there are two kinds of thoughts: the denial of the world and life (little interest in world, focusing on meditation and eternal) and the affirmation of the world and life (which leads man to serve others, society, the nation, with a hope of progress). There is no doubt that in recent decades the second position has dominated.

The aspirations of India as a future power (as defined by the theory of the BRIC'S as per GS), will lead it not only to rapprochement (hence Singh’s statements and gestures of friendship towards Pakistan), which is a real threat after the terrorist attack in Mumbai and also to confront internal problems such as: maintaining high growth rates in an economy that has been open for decades but maintains a regulated banking system and foreign capital transactions; India needs more foreign investment, public policies that get basic services to the poor and reform in public administration in order to reduce bureaucracy.

Of all the promises to fulfill, perhaps the most difficult is in terms of public policy and in foreign policy.