The context of the 1990s and the 1989 verdict

Detail

1. The starting point: the 1984 landslide

• Indira Gandhi was assassinated in October 1984. Her son Rajiv Gandhi then led the Congress into the Lok Sabha election.
• The Congress won 415 seats. This was its biggest win ever. (NCERT: 415 includes seats from the 1985 polls, which were held later in some states.)
• Why this matters: In just five years the Congress went from its highest point (1984) to defeat (1989). This sharp fall is the starting point for the politics of the 1990s.

2. The late 1980s: how the opposition came together

• Bofors controversy:
• In 1987 V.P. Singh was moved to the Ministry of Defence. There he found signs of kickbacks (secret illegal payments) in arms purchases, especially from the Swedish firm Bofors [4].
• He said the government was blocking his inquiry, and he resigned from the cabinet in April 1987 [4].

• By 1989 the Congress (I) and Rajiv Gandhi were hurt by charges of corruption. This made them easy targets for the opposition [4].

• Janata Dal (JD), October 1988:

• It was formed in 1988 as a merger of three small centrist opposition parties [2]. These were parties of the old Janata "family".

• Its support was strongest among the OBCs (Other Backward Classes: castes that are socially and educationally backward but are not Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes).

• National Front (NF), 1988:

• V.P. Singh built a wider nationwide coalition of centrist opposition parties around the JD. This was the National Front [3][2].
• It brought the JD together with regional parties such as the TDP (Andhra Pradesh), the DMK (Tamil Nadu) and the AGP (Assam).

• The NF fought the general election of November 1989 [2][4].

• Anti-incumbency means voters turn against the party in power because anger builds up during its term (over corruption, prices or poor governance).

• In 1989 the Bofors charges added to this anger [4].
• From then on anti-incumbency became a regular feature of Indian elections, at the Centre and in the states.

3. NCERT's five developments of the late 1980s

NCERT says five developments at the end of the 1980s shaped Indian politics for a long time.

#	Development	What it meant
(i)	Congress defeat in 1989	The end of the "Congress system"
(ii)	Mandal issue (1990, §6)	OBC reservation became central to national politics
(iii)	New economic policies (§3)	Began under Rajiv Gandhi and became clearly visible from 1991 (structural adjustment)
(iv)	Ram Janmabhoomi movement (§§8-10)	Changed the debate on secularism and democracy
(v)	Rajiv Gandhi's assassination (May 1991)	Changed the leadership of the Congress

• (i) The end of the "Congress system":
• The Congress system means the years after 1947 when the Congress was the main party. Its own internal groups also did the job of an opposition, so other parties stayed on the edges. This is also called one-party dominance: one party wins again and again while elections stay free and fair.
• In 1989 the Congress fell from 415 to 197 seats.

• It came back to power after the 1991 mid-term election (an election held before the Lok Sabha's five-year term ends). But it lost its central place in the party system. Other parties no longer arranged themselves around it.

• (iii) Economic policy: The change began under Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s. It became clear in 1991, when the government began liberalisation (removing many state controls on the economy).

• (iv) Ram Janmabhoomi: The movement changed the debate on secularism (the state treating all religions equally and keeping a distance from them) and democracy. It also helped the BJP grow.
• (v) Rajiv Gandhi's assassination:
• He was killed on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, while campaigning in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha election [5].
• A bomb hidden in a basket of flowers carried by a woman linked to the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) killed him and 16 others [5].
• Motive: Revenge. In 1987 Rajiv Gandhi had sent Indian troops to Sri Lanka to help enforce a peace accord. These troops ended up fighting the Tamil rebels [5].
• In 1998 an Indian court convicted 26 people of the conspiracy [5].

• After the 1991 poll the Congress was the single largest party (the party with the most seats, but without a majority). It chose P.V. Narasimha Rao, who became PM in June 1991 [5].

• NCERT visuals:

• Roller-coaster cartoon (1990): It shows the ups and downs and the instability of politics at the start of the decade.
• "Leadership in Congress" headlines box: A set of newspaper headlines on the Congress's search for a new leader after Rajiv Gandhi's death, which ended with Narasimha Rao.

4. The 1989 verdict and the hung Lok Sabha

• Seat figures:
• Congress: 197 (NCERT). Britannica gives 193 for the Congress (I) [4].
• Janata Dal: 143. Britannica gives 141, which made it the second-largest party [2].

• BJP: 85; Left: about 45 (check these against the ECI Statistical Report, 1989).

• Hung Lok Sabha means no party wins a majority (more than half the seats in the Lok Sabha, i.e. 272 or more out of 543).

• How a PM is chosen in a hung house: 1. Article 75(1): The President appoints the Prime Minister. When no party has a majority, the President must first judge who can win the House's support. 2. Article 75(3): The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (it must keep the confidence of the House or resign). So the government must prove its majority on the floor of the House.

• The Congress sat in opposition. It was the largest party, but it did not try to form a government.

• The National Front government:
• V.P. Singh became PM on 2 December 1989 [4].

• He governed as head of the NF with the backing of two other major opposition parties [4]. These were the BJP and the Left, who supported him from outside (they backed the government in votes but did not join the cabinet).

• Fall of the government:

• On 23 October 1990 the BJP withdrew its support, and Singh lost his majority in the Lok Sabha [4].

• This showed how weak governments depending on outside support can be.

• Result: 1989 began the coalition era (§2). A coalition government is one formed by two or more parties because none has a majority alone. This pattern lasted from 1989 until 2014.

Prelims Hooks

• 1984 Lok Sabha: the Congress won 415 seats (NCERT; this includes the delayed 1985 polls). It was the party's highest tally ever.
• 1989 Lok Sabha: the Congress fell to 197 (NCERT). It was still the largest party, but it chose to sit in opposition.
• Janata Dal was formed in 1988 as a merger of three small centrist parties. It led the National Front, whose regional partners included the TDP, DMK and AGP.
• V.P. Singh became PM on 2 December 1989. The BJP withdrew its support on 23 October 1990.
• Bofors (a Swedish arms firm) was linked to kickback charges found by V.P. Singh at the Ministry of Defence. He resigned in April 1987.
• Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu) by an LTTE-linked bomber. In 1998 a court convicted 26 people.
• Trap: In 1991 the Congress was the single largest party, not a majority party. Narasimha Rao, not a Gandhi family member, became PM.
• Article 75(1) says the President appoints the PM. Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, not to Parliament as a whole.

Mains Points

• The end of one-party dominance (GS-I): 1989 ended the "Congress system". Three causes came together: anti-incumbency, corruption charges (Bofors), and new OBC-based and regional parties uniting under the National Front. India's party system became competitive and multi-party.
• Hung parliaments and the President's discretion (GS-II): When no party wins a majority, the President must decide whom to invite as PM under Article 75(1). Usually the President picks the largest party or a pre-poll alliance and then asks for a floor test (a vote in the Lok Sabha to prove majority support). The 1989 case, where the largest party declined to form a government, shows why clear conventions for this are needed.
• Coalitions with outside support (GS-II):
• Gains: wider representation of regions and OBCs, and a check on centralised power.
• Costs: instability. The NF government lasted under a year after the BJP withdrew support in October 1990.

• Reform idea: a "constructive vote of no-confidence" (a government can be removed only if the House agrees on a replacement at the same time).

• 1989-91 as a turning point: Mandal, Mandir and market reforms (liberalisation) all date from these years. They became the three main themes of the next three decades of Indian politics.