I agree with you promethius (that's about three times this week...surely not?!
) in that the person isn't talking a lot of sense.
I have a few Indian friends at uni and we've had many discussions on this. Vajpayee and his government did do more to end corruption and to modernise the country than the entire Ghandi dynasty before him. However, the problem was that the masses are often left behind and this ultimately was his downfall. The 'India's Shining' campaign was pretty stupid too, because to a lot of people, it...erm wasn't.
I think his criticisms of Sonia are also unjustified. The reason she won the election was precisely
because she campaigned for the poor and the dissolusioned. Of course, it remains to be seen how effective this coalition government will actually be in addressing these problems, but at least the poor have now become the centre of attention in the political process. This can only be a good thing, and future governments will forget the poor at their peril following this shock result.
Plus, i don't believe that Indian's 'deserve' democracy less than anyone else. Most that I know are very hard working and honest people and have great hopes for the future of their country. I'm sure that returning to dictatorship would be a massive step backwards.