"The election results were better than expected: an amazing, clean sweep. Congress can survive easily for five years. It's great! It's continuity! The Indian voter is actually very mature and very smart," Desai exclaimed. "The Indian government has been on a 20-year holiday, from 1989 to 2009. Now there is a chance to turn this around. The DMK episode shows me that maybe we have seen a real turning point in Indian politics."

To illustrate some of the differences between British and Indian politics, he compared the expenses scandal currently rocking the UK Parliament, which has forced the Speaker of the House of Commons to step down, to the 'Swiss banks' scandal in India's Parliament.

"It's a consequence of transparency. No one's grocery bill looks good," he said of the UK Parliament's expenses row. "There's a lot of scrutiny in the UK. Both the press and public are very critical of politicians there. But in my experience, British politics is honest and clean, even by European standards. [Politicians] are not there to make money. They're ordinary British -- middleclass. I think the Indian press is too respectful of politicians. Indian politicians can breech the rule of law if they want to, and make things very difficult for you if you oppose them. So journalists can't challenge politicians."