Recent Developments in Indian Politics: Coalitions, Mandal and a New Consensus

1. The context of the 1990s and the 1989 verdict

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• 1984: After Indira Gandhi's assassination, Rajiv Gandhi led the Congress to 415 seats (NCERT; this includes seats from the delayed 1985 polls).
• Late 1980s (beyond NCERT): The Bofors controversy led V.P. Singh to leave the Congress. The Janata Dal was formed in October 1988. It merged groups from the Janata "family" and had strong support among OBCs. It led the National Front (1988) together with regional parties such as the TDP, DMK and AGP.
• NCERT's five developments of the late 1980s:
• The Congress lost the 1989 election.
• The Mandal issue arose (§6).
• New economic policies began (§3).
• The Ram Janmabhoomi movement grew (§§8-10).

• Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur by a Sri Lankan Tamil linked to the LTTE. The Congress then chose P.V. Narasimha Rao as PM.

• The 1989 general election: The Congress fell from 415 to 197 seats. This ended the "Congress system", and the Congress lost its central place in the party system. Beyond NCERT: JD 143, BJP 85, Left about 45 (verify ECI). No party had a majority (a hung Lok Sabha). The Congress chose to sit in opposition.

• Anti-incumbency means voters turn against a sitting government because anger builds up during its term. It became a recurring feature of elections from this point on.

2. End of Congress dominance: the National Front and minority governments (1989-91)

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• National Front government (December 1989 to November 1990): The National Front (Janata Dal plus regional parties) formed a government under V.P. Singh. It got outside support from two opposite groups, the BJP and the Left Front. Neither joined the cabinet. Both simply wanted the Congress out of power.
• It decided to implement the Mandal Commission report (§6).
• It fell: The BJP withdrew support after L.K. Advani was arrested during the Rath Yatra (October 1990; §9).
• Chandra Shekhar (November 1990 to June 1991): He led a breakaway section of the National Front (the Samajwadi Janata Party), supported from outside by the Congress. The Congress then withdrew support, which forced the 1991 mid-term poll during a balance-of-payments crisis.
• Minority government: A government without a majority of its own. It survives on support from parties that stay outside it. Examples: Indira Gandhi (1969-70), Charan Singh (1979), V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Rao at the start (1991), Vajpayee's 13 days (1996) and the United Front.
• Multi-party system: No single party replaced the Congress. Votes were spread so widely that no party won a majority alone from 1989 until 2014 (NCERT).

3. The Rao government and the New Economic Policy (1991-96)

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• Rao government (June 1991 to May 1996): A Congress government supported by the AIADMK and smaller parties (NCERT). It began as a minority government and later gained a majority.
• JMM bribery case (beyond NCERT): MPs were allegedly bribed to vote against the 1993 no-confidence motion. In P.V. Narasimha Rao v. State (1998), the Court held that Art. 105(2) protected MPs from prosecution for their votes. The seven-judge bench in Sita Soren (2024) overruled this: bribery is not protected.
• The 1991 crisis (beyond NCERT): Foreign reserves covered only a few weeks of imports, and gold was pledged (verify).
• The New Economic Policy 1991 is the set of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) reforms. They were pushed by PM Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. Main steps:
• Rupee devaluation (July 1991).
• The Statement on Industrial Policy (24 July 1991): licensing ended for most industries, fewer sectors were reserved for the public sector, foreign investment (FDI) was opened up and the MRTP Act was relaxed.

• Trade and financial-sector reform.

• NCERT: The reforms started under Rajiv Gandhi and "radically changed" the direction the economy had followed since independence. Many movements criticised them, yet every later government continued them. This became the first element of the new consensus (§12).

• Other Rao-era landmarks: the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) and the Look East policy.

4. Alliance politics: the United Front and the NDA (1996-2004)

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• 1996: The BJP became the largest party (161 seats, verify). Vajpayee's minority government (May-June 1996) resigned because it could not win a majority.
• United Front (1996-98): The Janata Dal plus regional parties, many of them speaking for Dalit, OBC and regional groups. PMs were H.D. Deve Gowda, then I.K. Gujral.
• The Congress supported it from outside. This time the Congress and the Left joined to keep the BJP out, the reverse of 1989.

• Congress president Sitaram Kesri withdrew support (NCERT cartoon). Beyond NCERT: the CPI joined the cabinet, while the CPI(M) stayed outside.

• Common Minimum Programme (CMP): The shared policy agenda that coalition partners agree on as the basis for governing. Examples:

• United Front CMP (1996)
• NDA's National Agenda for Governance (1998)
• UPA's National CMP (2004)

• Coordination committees manage it day to day.

• National Democratic Alliance (NDA): The BJP-led coalition under A.B. Vajpayee.

• March 1998 government: it fell in April 1999 by one vote after the AIADMK left (beyond NCERT).
• October 1999 to May 2004: the first non-Congress government to complete a full term.
• Allies did not share Hindutva, so the BJP set aside the temple, Art. 370 and a uniform civil code. This is pragmatism over ideology.

5. Coalition government: logic and consequences

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• Coalition government is a government formed by two or more parties, usually because no single party has a majority. It gives the President more choice in deciding whom to invite. It also makes the PM a negotiator among allies.
• Why coalitions came (NCERT's "long-term trend"):
• The Congress itself was once a coalition of many interests.
• Groups left it from the late 1960s.
• Regional parties grew after 1977, and Dalit and OBC parties after 1990.

• None of them replaced the Congress, so parties strong in single states became king-makers at the Centre.

• NCERT: All eleven governments from 1989 to 2014 were coalition or minority governments that needed regional parties.

• How coalitions work:
• Alliances are made before or after the poll.
• Allies agree on CMPs and bargain over ministries ("coalition dharma").
• In a hung House, the President's discretion under Art. 75 grows. Sarkaria Commission norms are applied by analogy (pointer union-executive).

• The 91st Amendment (2003) capped the council of ministers at 15% of Lok Sabha strength and removed the "split" exception from anti-defection law.

• Gains: Regions and social groups get a voice, federalism gets stronger and majority power is checked.

• Costs: Instability (Lok Sabha polls in 1996, 1998 and 1999), veto by allies (the Left over the nuclear deal in 2008; the TMC's exit over retail FDI in 2012) and narrow demands from partners.

6. The Mandal Commission and its implementation

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• OBCs: An administrative category for communities other than SCs and STs that are educationally and socially backward. Southern states had OBC quotas from the 1960s or earlier. The north did not.
• First commission: The First Backward Classes Commission (Kaka Kalelkar, report 1955) was not acted on.
• Karpoori Thakur formula (Bihar, 1978): OBC quotas split into sub-groups, plus quotas for women and the poor. Beyond NCERT: 26% in all, made up of 12% for the most backward, 8% for other backward, 3% for women and 3% for the poor (verify). Thakur received the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2024.
• Mandal Commission: The Second Backward Classes Commission was set up by the Janata government in 1978-79 under B.P. Mandal. It reported in 1980.
• It read "backward classes" as backward castes.
• It found very low OBC presence in education and public jobs.
• It recommended 27% reservation in jobs and educational institutions, plus land reform.

• Beyond NCERT: it used 11 indicators, listed 3,743 castes and estimated OBCs at about 52% of the population.

• Mandal issue: The DoPT Office Memorandum of 13 August 1990 gave OBCs 27% of central government jobs. Violent anti-Mandal protests followed in north Indian cities. The Office Memorandum of 25 September 1991 added preference for poorer OBCs and a 10% economic quota.

• Indra Sawhney (November 1992, nine judges): The Court upheld the OBC quota, but:
• excluded the creamy layer (the better-off among OBCs);
• set a 50% ceiling on total reservation;
• struck down the 10% economic quota;

• barred reservation in promotions. Details are in vulnerable-sections-safeguards.

• Later changes:

• 93rd Amendment (2005): OBC quota in educational institutions.
• 102nd Amendment (2018): the NCBC became a constitutional body.
• 105th Amendment (2021): states regained power over their own OBC lists.
• 103rd Amendment (2019): EWS quota.
• Rohini Commission (report 2023): sub-categorisation of OBCs.

7. Political fallout: OBC and Dalit assertion

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• OBC politics:
• After the Emergency, many backward castes moved away from the Congress.
• The 1977 Janata Party first gave them a national voice. Its constituents, the BKD and the SSP, had rural OBC bases.
• Mandal made OBCs more aware of their identity. Parties then demanded a share in jobs, education and power.

• Beyond NCERT: the SP, RJD and JD(U) rose, and more OBC legislators entered politics in the north (the "silent revolution").

• BAMCEF (1978): Founded by Kanshi Ram. It was not an ordinary union of government employees. It sought political power for the bahujan (SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities). From it came DS-4 and then the BSP.

• Bahujan Samaj Party (1984): Founded by Kanshi Ram, who called political power the "master key" to social equality.
• It broke through in UP in 1989 and 1991, the first such success for a mainly Dalit-supported party.
• It has governed UP more than once (Mayawati: first in 1995, with a full majority in 2007).

• It won no Lok Sabha seat in 2024 (verify).

• NCERT: Dalit and OBC politics often grew separately and in competition.

• Identity politics: Mobilising people on caste, religion, region, language or ethnicity rather than on ideology or class. NCERT asks whether the gains will be captured by a few powerful castes and families.

8. The BJP and Hindutva

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• Bharatiya Janata Party: Formed in 1980 by former Jana Sangh members after the Janata Party broke up.
• It first adopted Gandhian socialism: Gandhian ideas such as decentralisation and value-based politics, combined with socialist goals and cultural nationalism.
• It won only 2 seats in 1984. After 1986 it made nationalism central and used Hindutva to mobilise voters.

• Palampur resolution (1989): backed the Ram temple (beyond NCERT).

• BJP seats (verify ECI):

Year	1984	1989	1991	1996	1998	1999	2004	2009	2014	2019	2024
Seats	2	85	120	161	182	182	138	116	282	303	240

• Hindutva was popularised by V.D. Savarkar (Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 1923). An Indian, in this view, treats India as both fatherland (pitrubhu) and holy land (punyabhu). Supporters say a united national culture builds a strong nation. Critics call it exclusionary and majoritarian (pointer secularism).
• Shah Bano (1985): The Supreme Court granted maintenance to a 62-year-old divorced Muslim woman. Orthodox leaders called this interference in personal law. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 cancelled the effect of the ruling. The BJP called this "appeasement".
• Later developments: Danial Latifi (2001) read the Act to require fair provision for the wife beyond the iddat period. Shayara Bano (2017) and the 2019 triple talaq law followed, then Uttarakhand's UCC (2024).

9. The Ayodhya dispute: from 1528 to the demolition

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• Early history:
• 1528: A three-dome structure, the Babri Masjid, was built (beyond NCERT: by Mir Baqi) at a site Hindus believe is Ram's birthplace.

• 1858: NCERT records that Nihang Sikhs performed puja at the site before colonial officials removed them.

• 1949: Idols were placed inside the structure in December 1949 (beyond NCERT). The structure was then sealed as court cases began, and title suits followed from 1950.

• Ayodhya dispute, the turning points:
• 1986: The Faizabad district court ordered the locks opened for worship.

• 1989: The shilanyas (foundation-laying ceremony) was performed, but further building was barred.

• Ram Janmabhoomi movement: A campaign from the mid-1980s, led by the VHP, for a temple at the site. It reshaped BJP politics and the secularism debate.

• Rath Yatra: L.K. Advani set out from Somnath (September 1990) towards Ayodhya. He was arrested in Bihar in October 1990. The BJP then withdrew support, and the V.P. Singh government fell.
• Demolition (6 December 1992): NCERT notes only that critics saw it as a challenge to democracy. Beyond NCERT:
• The UP government resigned, and the BJP governments of MP, Rajasthan and HP were dismissed under Art. 356.
• S.R. Bommai (1994) upheld these dismissals and held that secularism is part of the basic structure (the core of the Constitution that Parliament cannot change).

• Riots followed, including in Mumbai in 1992-93.

• Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991: Froze the religious character of places of worship as they stood on 15 August 1947. Ayodhya was exempted.

10. After 1992: violence, inquiries and the 2019 verdict

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• The state's response (beyond NCERT):
• The Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act 1993 took over about 67 acres. A reference was also made to the Court under Art. 143.
• Ismail Faruqui (1994): The Court upheld the acquisition and returned the reference unanswered. Its remark that a mosque is not essential to namaz is contested.
• The Liberhan Commission was set up in December 1992 and reported in 2009, after 17 years.

• A CBI special court acquitted all accused in the demolition case (September 2020).

• Gujarat riots of 2002: A train coach carrying kar sevaks was burnt at Godhra on 27 February 2002. The violence that followed killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. The current NCERT omits this, though earlier editions covered it.

• Follow-up: NHRC action, a Supreme Court-appointed SIT, Zakia Jafri (2022) upholding the SIT's closure report, and the Court quashing remission for the Bilkis Bano convicts (January 2024).

• Allahabad High Court (2010): Split the 2.77-acre site three ways, among Ram Lalla, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Waqf Board.

• Ayodhya verdict, M. Siddiq v. Mahant Suresh Das (9 November 2019, 5-0):
• The site went to a trust for a temple.
• Under Art. 142, five acres elsewhere in Ayodhya were given to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for a mosque.

• The Court found that the ASI did not prove a temple was demolished, and that the 1949 desecration and the 1992 demolition were illegal.

• Afterwards: Temple trust formed (2020), bhoomi pujan (August 2020), consecration (22 January 2024).

• Debate: NCERT calls the verdict consensus-building. Critics say it rewarded the 1992 demolition. A Supreme Court interim order in December 2024 halted new suits and surveys against existing places of worship (verify current).

11. Lok Sabha elections 2004-2024

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• 2004: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power with outside Left support. Manmohan Singh became PM. Congress 145, BJP 138. The vote gap between the two alliances was very small (NCERT).

• Beyond NCERT: rights-based laws were passed, including RTI 2005, NREGA 2005, RTE 2009 and NFSA 2013.

• Indo-US civil nuclear deal:

• It gave India US civil nuclear cooperation even though India has not signed the NPT. It was pursued from 2005 and sealed by the 123 Agreement in 2008, with an NSG waiver in September 2008.

• The Left withdrew support in July 2008. The UPA won a trust vote and finished its term.

• 2009: The Congress rose to 206 seats (BJP 116), and Manmohan Singh began a second term. Corruption allegations followed, and the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed in 2013.

• 2014 general election: The BJP under Narendra Modi won 282 seats, the first single-party majority in 30 years. It still formed an NDA government with allies. The Congress fell to 44. NCERT calls 2014 a "watershed".
• 2019: BJP 303, Congress 52, DMK 24, Shiv Sena 18, JD(U) 16 (NCERT table).
• 2024 (verify current): BJP 240, short of the 272 needed for a majority. The NDA won 293, with the TDP (16) and JD(U) (12) as key allies.
• The INDIA bloc, an opposition alliance formed in July 2023, won about 234. The Congress won 99 and the SP 37.
• Modi began a third straight term (June 2024), the first PM to do so since Nehru. A recognised Leader of Opposition returned, and the government again depends on allies.

12. The new consensus and lessons for democracy

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• Emergence of a new consensus: Even amid fierce competition, most parties agree on four points (NCERT): 1. New economic policies: Most parties back them, even though many groups oppose them. 2. Backward-caste claims: All parties support OBC reservation and a fair share of power for OBCs. 3. State parties' role: The line between state and national parties matters less, as state parties share power at the Centre. 4. Pragmatism over ideology: Alliances form without ideological agreement. Most NDA partners rejected Hindutva yet governed together for a full term.

• NCERT graph: Congress and BJP vote shares together crossed 50% in most elections after 1989, except 1996, 2004 and 2009.

• Beyond the consensus: People's movements are raising poverty, displacement, minimum wages and social security. Demands for justice are voiced through class, caste, gender and region.
• Post-2014 debates (beyond NCERT):
• Is a new dominant-party system forming?
• How fragile is the consensus? The farm laws were repealed in 2021, and the stand on a caste census changed (verify).

• Has 2024 revived coalition politics?

• Lessons: Power changed hands peacefully in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2014. NCERT says democracy is here to stay and will keep changing through "continuous churning".

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• Order of governments since 1989:
• National Front (V.P. Singh; outside support from the BJP and the Left)
• Chandra Shekhar (outside support from the Congress)
• Rao (Congress, with AIADMK support)
• Vajpayee (13 days, 1996)
• United Front (Deve Gowda, then Gujral; outside support from the Congress)
• NDA (1998, 1999)
• UPA (2004, 2009)

• NDA (2014, 2019, 2024)

• Chronology (exercise Q1): Indira Gandhi assassinated (1984) → Janata Dal (1988) → Mandal implemented (1990) → NDA government (1998) → UPA (2004) → Ayodhya judgment (2019).

• Mandal:
• The first commission was Kalelkar's (1955); Mandal headed the second.
• Mandal reported in 1980 and recommended 27%. The OM came on 13 August 1990.

• Indra Sawhney (1992): creamy layer, 50% ceiling, no reservation in promotions, 10% economic quota struck down.

• Founders and dates: BAMCEF (1978) → DS-4 → BSP (1984), all Kanshi Ram. BJP (1980). Janata Dal (1988). INDIA bloc (2023).

• Communal-politics sequence: Shah Bano (1985) → 1986 Act → locks opened (1986) → Rath Yatra (1990) → demolition (6 December 1992) → Bommai (1994) → Liberhan report (2009) → Allahabad HC (2010) → Siddiq (2019, 5-0, Art. 142, five acres) → consecration (22 January 2024).
• Seat numbers: Congress 415 → 197 (1984 → 1989). Congress 145 → 206 (2004 → 2009). BJP 282 / 303 / 240 (2014 / 2019 / 2024).
• Match (exercise Q2):
• Consensus politics ↔ agreement on economic policy
• Caste-based parties ↔ rise of OBCs
• Personal law and gender justice ↔ Shah Bano

• Growing strength of regional parties ↔ coalition government

• Other law and case pairs: 91st Amendment (2003) ↔ 15% cap on ministers. Sita Soren (2024) ↔ no immunity for bribed MPs under Art. 105(2).

• Traps:
• "The BJP supported the United Front": FALSE. The Congress supported it.
• "Only the Left supported the National Front": FALSE. Both the BJP and the Left did.
• "The 1998 NDA completed a full term": FALSE. The 1999 NDA did.
• "2014 was the first single-party majority ever after the Congress": FALSE. It was the first in 30 years (the last was 1984).

Mains — GS-I and GS-II themes

1. The coalition era: its effects on federalism, governance and policy (stability against representation). Does 2024 revive coalition logic?
2. Mandalisation: social justice and representation; creamy layer, sub-categorisation and the caste census.
3. Communalism and secularism, from Shah Bano to Ayodhya: courts in faith disputes, the Places of Worship Act, accountability for communal violence.
4. Why every government continued the 1991 reforms, and the limits of that consensus (the farm-laws repeal).
5. The changing party system: Congress system → multi-party coalitions → BJP dominance; the role of regional parties at the Centre.
6. Identity politics against programme-based politics: the BSP's rise and decline; OBC parties and family rule.
7. Anti-incumbency, swings in voter choice and the politics of welfare delivery.

Current-affairs hooks

• Caste enumeration in the next Census, state caste surveys, OBC sub-categorisation (Rohini) and SC sub-classification (Davinder Singh, 2024) (verify current).
• Places of Worship Act cases and new disputes (Gyanvapi, Mathura, Sambhal) (verify current).
• Coalition management in NDA-III: allies' demands for special packages or special category status (verify current).
• Anniversaries: Mandal (7 August), the demolition (6 December), the consecration (22 January). The 2024 Bharat Ratna awards to Karpoori Thakur, L.K. Advani, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Charan Singh.
• INDIA bloc dynamics in state elections; defections.
• Uniform Civil Code moves (Uttarakhand 2024 and other states) as successors to the Shah Bano debate.