India angry over Bush remarks on food

A remark by President George W. Bush saying India was partly responsible for rising global food prices has sparked a nationalistic storm across the political spectrum, with the defence minister calling it a "cruel joke".

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's main opposition party, threatened yesterday to force a parliamentary debate on Bush's remarks that India's increasingly prosperous middle classes were helping push up prices.

The political uproar highlighted how quickly a latent anti-US nationalism in India could rear its head despite years of diplomatic rapprochement. It also underscored how food price rises have become a huge electoral issue in India.