Washington: Comparing the electoral debacle of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with the defeat of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1977, controversial India-born writer Salman Rushdie today (May 15, 2004) termed the poll outcome as a high point in the history of Indian democracy.

"Both elections are high points in the history of Indian democracy. An ornery electorate that doesn't do what it's supposed to do is a fine and cheering thing," Rushdie wrote in a commentary for a US daily.

Terming the election outcome as a "huge political shock" comparable to 1977, he said, "The fall of the Indian Government is a huge political shock that strikingly echoes the only comparable electoral upset, the defeat of Indira Gandhi in 1977.

"The oldest Indian rivalries of all have resurfaced in this election, as they also did in 1977. Then as now, much of the urban bourgeoisie voted for the Government, while the impoverished Indian masses, in particular the rural poor, mostly voted against it.

"... The dispossessed of India have dealt a mighty blow to the assumptions of the country's political and economic chieftains, and the lesson should be learned by all parties: Ignore the well-being of the masses at your peril," he writes in the 'Washington Post'.