Recent Developments in Indian Politics
1. Chapter Overview
2. Context of the 1990s — Five Key Developments
1️⃣ Defeat of Congress (1989)
- Congress fell from 415 seats (1984) to just 197 seats (1989)
- Marked the end of the ‘Congress system’, though Congress remained the single largest ruling party more often than any other
- Congress recovered somewhat in the 1991 mid-term poll but never regained its old centrality
2️⃣ Rise of the Mandal Issue
- National Front government (1990) decided to implement Mandal Commission job reservations for OBCs
- Triggered violent anti-Mandal protests across the country
- The pro- vs anti-reservation dispute became the ‘Mandal issue’, shaping politics since 1989
3️⃣ New Economic Reforms
- Structural adjustment / New Economic Policy begun by Rajiv Gandhi, became fully visible in 1991
- Radically changed India’s post-Independence economic direction
- Widely criticised, but continued by every government since
4️⃣ Ram Janmabhoomi Movement
- Old dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya became a central national issue
- Transformed political debate on secularism and democracy
- Finally resolved by the Supreme Court verdict of 9 November 2019
3. Era of Coalitions
🏛️ National Front & the Unusual Alliance (1989)
- The National Front (Janata Dal + regional parties) formed the government with outside support from two opposite camps — the BJP and the Left Front — neither of whom joined the government itself.
- Both supported the National Front mainly to keep Congress out of power.
📉 Decline of Congress Dominance
- The 1989 defeat ended Congress’s predominant position — unlike the late 1960s challenge, which Indira Gandhi had successfully reversed, this time no single party replaced Congress.
- This gave rise to a genuine multi-party system — after 1989, no party won a clear Lok Sabha majority until 2014.
🔄 Alliance Politics — Shifting Equations
- United Front (1996): similar to the National Front, included Janata Dal and regional parties, but this time supported from outside by Congress — while the BJP stayed out.
- This showed how unstable alliances were: in 1989 both Left and BJP backed the non-Congress government to keep Congress out; in 1996 Congress and the Left both backed a non-Congress government to keep the BJP out.
- BJP became the largest party in 1996 but could not muster majority support and its government fell within days.
- BJP finally formed a stable coalition — the NDA — from May 1998 to June 1999, then was re-elected in October 1999; Atal Behari Vajpayee’s 1999 government completed a full term.
4. Political Rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs)
📜 The Mandal Commission
- OBC reservation already existed in southern states since the 1960s but not in the north; Karpoori Thakur (Bihar CM) pioneered it in the north during the Janata Party years (1977–79).
- The central government set up the Second Backward Classes Commission (1978), popularly called the Mandal Commission after its chairman, B.P. Mandal.
- It equated ‘backward classes’ with ‘backward castes’ and recommended 27% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for OBCs, along with other measures like land reform.
- In August 1990, the National Front government implemented the job-reservation recommendation, sparking violent agitation.
- Challenged in court as the ‘Indira Sawhney case’; the Supreme Court upheld the decision in November 1992.
🌱 Political Fallout — Dalit Assertion
- BAMCEF (Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation, 1978) championed political power for the ‘bahujan’ — SC, ST, OBC and minorities.
- This led to the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti and finally the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) under Kanshi Ram.
- BSP achieved a major breakthrough in Uttar Pradesh in 1989 and 1991 — the first time a Dalit-backed party achieved this scale of political success in independent India.
- Dalit politics and OBC politics have often developed independently and in competition with each other.
5. Communalism, Secularism, Democracy — The Ayodhya Issue
🌱 Rise of the BJP
- After the Janata Party’s break-up post-Emergency, former Jana Sangh members formed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980.
- Initially adopted a broad platform of ‘Gandhian Socialism’ with cultural nationalism, but had little success in the 1984 election.
- After 1986, the party shifted focus to nationalism and the politics of ‘Hindutva’ — an ideology popularised by V.D. Savarkar, holding that being Indian means accepting India as both fatherland and holy land.
⚖️ Two Key Developments Around 1986
Shah Bano Case (1985)
Supreme Court ruled in favour of maintenance for a divorced Muslim woman. Orthodox Muslims saw it as interference in Muslim Personal Law; the government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, overturning the verdict — criticised by women’s groups and by the BJP as ‘appeasement’.
Ayodhya / Ram Janmabhoomi Dispute
A centuries-old dispute over Shri Ram’s birthplace at Ayodhya, dating to a structure built in 1528. The site was sealed in 1949 amid litigation; in 1986 a Faizabad court allowed worship there, heightening tension between communities.
⚖️ From Legal Proceedings to Resolution
- The dispute followed decades of court hearings, mediation attempts and popular movements, including the 1992 demolition of the disputed structure — seen by critics as a challenge to India’s democratic principles.
- Resolved by a 5–0 verdict of a Supreme Court constitutional bench on 9 November 2019.
- The disputed site was allotted to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust for a Ram temple; the government was directed to allot a separate site to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for a mosque.
- The Ram Temple at Ayodhya was subsequently constructed following this verdict — cited as an example of conflict resolution through democratic and legal process.
6. Central Governments Since 1989 — Timeline
7. Emergence of a New Policy Consensus
1️⃣ New Economic Policies
Although some groups oppose them, most political parties now support the new economic reforms, believing they will bring prosperity and global economic power to the country.
2️⃣ Political & Social Claims of Backward Castes
Parties across the spectrum now accept OBC social and political claims, supporting reservation in education and employment and a fair share of political power for OBCs.
3️⃣ Role of State-Level Parties
The distinction between national and state-level parties has become less significant — regional parties now regularly share power at the Centre and play a central governing role.
4️⃣ Pragmatism Over Ideology
Coalition politics has shifted focus from ideological agreement to power-sharing arrangements — e.g., most NDA partners did not share the BJP’s ‘Hindutva’ ideology, yet governed together for a full term.
8. Party Position in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019)
| Party | Seats Won | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) | 303 | 56% |
| Indian National Congress (INC) | 52 | 10% |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) | 24 | 4% |
| Shiv Sena (SS) | 18 | 3% |
| Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] | 16 | 3% |
| Biju Janata Dal (BJD) | 12 | 2% |
| Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) | 10 | 2% |
| Other Parties | 108 | 20% |
9. Key Personalities of the Period
V.P. Singh
Led the National Front government; implemented the Mandal Commission’s OBC reservation recommendation, triggering nationwide agitation.
P.V. Narasimha Rao
Became PM after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination; his government, with Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, launched India’s New Economic Policy in 1991.
Atal Behari Vajpayee
Led the first BJP government (1996, lasted days); then led the NDA coalition from 1998, re-elected in 1999 to complete a full term — the first non-Congress coalition PM to do so.
Manmohan Singh
As Finance Minister (1991) architect of the New Economic Policy; later led the Congress-headed UPA coalition for two terms as Prime Minister.
Narendra Modi
Led the BJP to an outright Lok Sabha majority in 2014 (282 seats) — the first single-party majority in 30 years — repeated with 303 seats in 2019, while still leading the NDA coalition.
B.P. Mandal
Chaired the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission), which recommended 27% reservation for OBCs in jobs and education.
Kanshi Ram
Founder of BAMCEF, DS-4, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP, 1984); proponent of Bahujan empowerment and architect of Dalit political resurgence in north India.
10. Mind Map — Chapter 8 at a Glance
Mandal issue
New economic policy
United Front 1996
NDA · UPA
27% reservation
Indira Sawhney case
Kanshi Ram
BSP breakthrough
Shah Bano case
2019 SC verdict
OBC claims accepted
Pragmatism > ideology
282 → 303 seats
Congress declines
Share power at Centre
National-state line blurs
11. Summary — Quick Revision
The end of the 1980s saw five long-lasting developments: Congress’s defeat in 1989, the rise of the Mandal issue, new economic reforms, the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991.
The 1989 election ended the ‘Congress system’ — Congress fell from 415 to 197 seats, and no single party has since dominated the way Congress once did.
An era of coalition and minority governments began in 1989 and lasted till 2014, with the National Front, United Front, BJP-led coalition, NDA, and UPA all depending on regional-party support.
The Mandal Commission, chaired by B.P. Mandal, recommended 27% OBC reservation in jobs and education; implemented in 1990, it sparked violent protest and was upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1992 Indira Sawhney case.
Dalit political assertion grew through BAMCEF and the BSP under Kanshi Ram, which achieved a major breakthrough in Uttar Pradesh in 1989 and 1991.
The BJP, formed in 1980, shifted after 1986 to a politics of nationalism and Hindutva. The Shah Bano case (1985) and the Ayodhya dispute became central to its politics and to the national debate on secularism.
The Ayodhya dispute was resolved by a 5–0 Supreme Court verdict on 9 November 2019, allotting the site to a trust for a Ram temple and directing a separate site for a mosque.
A new policy consensus emerged among most parties on four fronts: support for economic reforms, acceptance of OBC claims, growing importance of state-level parties, and pragmatism over ideology in coalition-building.
The 2014 election marked a watershed — the BJP under Narendra Modi won a single-party majority (282 seats) for the first time in 30 years, repeated with 303 seats in 2019, even as it continued to govern through the NDA coalition.
Even amid party competition, popular movements on poverty, displacement, minimum wages, livelihood, and social security continue to shape India’s democratic agenda, reflecting the ongoing churning of Indian politics.
12. Important Terms to Remember
- Congress System: The term used by political scientists for the era of Congress dominance over Indian politics, which effectively ended with the party’s defeat in the 1989 election.
- Mandalisation: The process by which OBC identity and reservation politics, triggered by the Mandal Commission’s recommendations, reshaped political mobilisation and representation in India.
- Mandal Commission: Officially the Second Backward Classes Commission (1978), chaired by B.P. Mandal; recommended 27% reservation for OBCs in government jobs and education, implemented in 1990.
- Bahujan: Literally ‘majority of the people’ — refers to SC, ST, OBC, and religious minorities collectively; the ideological basis of BAMCEF and the BSP’s politics.
- Hindutva: An ideology popularised by V.D. Savarkar holding that Indian nationhood rests on accepting India as one’s fatherland and holy land; adopted by the BJP as a core political plank after 1986.
- Ram Janmabhoomi Movement: The political and legal movement centred on the disputed site in Ayodhya believed to be Lord Ram’s birthplace, resolved by the Supreme Court’s 2019 verdict.
- Coalition Government: A government formed by an alliance of two or more political parties, none of which alone commands a majority — the dominant pattern of Indian governance from 1989 to 2014.
- New Policy Consensus: The broad agreement that emerged among most parties post-1989 on economic reforms, OBC claims, the role of state parties, and pragmatic (rather than purely ideological) alliance-building.