India's economy grows mainly in the night, some say, when the government is asleep. If every economic prospect pleases, India's politics can be vile.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flattered in his first term only to deceive in the second. His government has been drifting rudderless, with critical institutional reforms shelved, deflected and rejected.

Two recent events confirm that all the hype notwithstanding, India remains a Third World country with delusions of global grandeur.