Fareed Zakaria is a foreign affairs analyst who hosts `` Fareed Zakaria GPS '' on CNN at 1 and 5 p.m . ET Sundays . Zakaria says India 's elections could mark its debut as a great power . ( CNN ) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the oath of office Friday for a second consecutive term after winning a mandate for his Congress party . President Pratibha Devisingh Patil administered the oath to Singh , seen as the architect of India 's economic reforms in the 1990s . Nineteen other lawmakers also were sworn in as members of the new federal Cabinet . The Indian National Congress , headed by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi , won 206 of 543 boroughs in the April and May general elections . That is the party 's best performance in almost two decades that saw mostly coalition governments running the country . CNN spoke to author and foreign affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria about the results . CNN : What do you think of the outcome of the Indian elections ? Fareed Zakaria : These elections I think may be looked upon as India 's debut as a great power -- the way the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics heralded China 's debut . They are also the perfect symbol , in this case , of India 's unique strengths -- which are defined not by government power but people power with all the messiness and chaos that implies . With 420 million people voting , India 's recent polling was the biggest exercise of democracy ever . CNN : But the exercise of democracy in India is n't new . What makes this one special ? Zakaria : You are right . It was the result of these elections . Over the last two decades , India has been consumed with its internal divisions -- of caste , ethnicity and religion . This has made if difficult for a government in New Delhi to mobilize national power to any purposeful and responsible end internationally . A decentralized , divided , and diffuse polity has punched well below its weight internationally or adopted policies abroad for purely domestic reasons . That 's bad for India and bad for the world . This could all change , starting with this election result . For the first time in three decades , a single party -- the Indian National Congress -- was given a clear and large mandate . CNN : Why were there so many problems in the past ? Zakaria : It was mainly two issues . First , populism trumps economic reform . Promising the voters goodies works better than imposing budgetary discipline . Two , in the age of terrorism , fear was an easy way to mobilize political support . ( These problems have affected democracies in rich countries like America just as much as poor ones . ) The Indian results contradict both notions . The Congress Party has been reasonably reform-mined economically and highly responsible on issues of terrorism . It chose not to react violently to the recent Mumbai terror attacks and was vilified as weak by the opposition . The voters did n't buy it . CNN : Can you think of why things have changed for the voters ? Zakaria : I ca n't be certain but I will put some of the credit for providing a new option to voters on the shoulder of Rahul Gandhi . He is the 39-year-old son of the former Prime Minister of India , Rajiv Gandhi , and the current head of the Congress party , Sonia Gandhi . He spent the last few years reviving the grassroots base of the Congress party . He also made a series of big strategic bets during the campaign such as to field young candidates , not to ally with caste-based parties which proved to be right . He , along with his mother and the current Prime Minister Singh , are reviving the Congress party , and have done all this while maintaining a commitment to secularism , economic reform and clean government . CNN : So the voters in India got it right ? Zakaria : I think so . But I also do want to take a minute to impress on readers the scope of elections in India . It really is amazing to see the largest democracy at work . First of all , look at the scope . 420 million people voted . That 's more than all the people ( men , women and children ) who live in the United States , Britain and Canada combined . Then the process -- there are five election days over the course of a month ; votes are cast in almost 1 million polling places . It is by far the biggest exercise in democracy in the history of the world . But all of that is only part of what makes it really remarkable . The Indian electorate is one of the poorest , least educated in the world but they actively participate in the political process . And they voted in a very intelligent way . Something they should be very proud of .
Zakaria : Election shows India 's unique strength , people power . 420 million voters make this biggest democracy exercise ever , he says . Zakaria : For the first time in three decades , one party has a clear mandate .