NEW DELHI -- The world's largest-ever election in India has produced the biggest upset, bringing to power a foreign-born woman leader, Sonia Gandhi, and radically transforming Indian politics.
Imagine a Latino or a Muslim or a woman from overseas becoming president of the United States. That scenario seems improbable, given the fact that the U.S. presidency has always been a Christian white male preserve. It is equally implausible that Japan or Italy would elect a person of foreign ethnicity as its prime minister.
So, how does one explain the rise to power of a Roman Catholic, Italian-born woman in the world's largest democracy, India -- a predominantly Hindu nation that already has a Muslim president?