TEHRAN: As the sun sinks behind wooded hills, the air is crisp, shadows lengthen on plush boulevards and the northern end of the city starts to
have a party. Every evening, smartly dressed young men with gelled hair and fashionably made-up girls in colourful hijabs and fragrant with European perfume gather at the city's squares. They carry photos of their favourite candidate for the June 12 presidential election.
The party kicks off when they start to shout slogans. Young men balance dangerously on the windows of speeding cars; horns honk furiously; the girls yell at biker boy-gangs. At the square, young boys and girls, colourful bands wrapped around their heads and wrists, ready for a rally. There is the roar of "Iran, Iran" and clenched fists rise and fall in rhythm.
Tehran is sleepless. Less than a week before an election that could be a turning point in their history, the young – 70% of Iran's population is below the age of 30 – are leading a campaign with slogans that symbolize their yearing: "Change"; "We can"; "Revolution". Every evening, the main gate of Tehran University becomes a battle zone, with supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival, former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, exchanging slogans and, because this is Iran, roses.
On Wednesday night, as Ahmadinejad and Mousavi had an unprecedented 90–minute-long face-off on national television, Iran came to a halt. Some 50 million people – of a population of 70 m – watched. There are four more debates to go and everyone is waiting. "It's so interesting to see for the first time the candidates having an intense debate on TV. Now, we know which candidate has what in mind for our future, our jobs and education," says Fatemeh, a 21-year-old student at Tehran University.
It's interesting times in Iran. The country is changing. US President Barack Obama has acknowledged Iran's "legitimate need for nuclear energy" and accepted the CIA's role in the 1959 coup against the Mossadegh government. G8 leader Italy has invited Iran to a ministerial-level meet on Afghanistan later this month. Tehran and Baghdad have signed more than 100 MOUs, including joint oil exploration agreements within common borders and security issues. Iran and China have signed a $5 bn-gas deal to develop the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian gulf.
"Finally, our foreign policy is paying off. We took a principled stand on some crucial issues and the world has now acknowledged it," says an Iranian official, echoing Ahmadinejad, who boasted this week that he took a "tough stand against the bullies" and made the Western world understand that "Iran was strong".
But Iran has problems. Inflation is high - 25%. There have been terror attacks in the Zahedan area near the Pak-Afghan border. But Iranians are bullish. "The Americans have no right to tell us if we should have a nuclear bomb or not," says Hamid Hashemi, a shopkeeper. "They want to keep us down with sanctions, but Iran is growing, just like India which progressed despite the US sanctions after your nuclear blast," says the Mousavi-supporter.
That is the only mention of India. Iran's attachment to India is cultural and sentimental. The very word "Hindustan" makes ordinary people smile and shopkeepers generous. Thanks to Bollywood, people stop "Hindustanis" on the streets and talk to them in Farsi. Young people admire India's "software power". Bilateral trade has reached the $14-bn mark; Iran is India's second biggest supplier of oil; thousands of Iranians go to India for education and tourism every year; and in recent years Indians, particularly from Kashmir, have been coming to Iran to study. But there is bad news as well: around 80% of the bilateral trade is in oil; the gas pipeline deal has been stuck for years; and Iranians see India as moving too close to the US at its expense.
In private, Indian officials, admit that New Delhi needs to engage with Tehran more vigorously. "The Chinese are doing a lot of business here. They are even making Tehran's metro network. We could have done that," says an official.
Irrespective of who wins the election, change is in the air in Iran. The world too is looking at Tehran differently. Perhaps India should join the party?
Memo to India: Look west, at Iran - Deep Focus - The Times of India