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

Detail

Key ideas first

• Coalition government: a government formed by two or more parties together, because no single party has a majority (more than half the seats, i.e. 272 of 543) in the Lok Sabha.
• Minority government: a government whose party or alliance has fewer than half the seats. It survives only if other parties back it or stay neutral.
• Outside support: a party votes to keep a government in power but does not join its Council of Ministers (the group of ministers).
• Confidence vote (trust vote): a vote in the Lok Sabha to test whether the government still has majority support.
• The PM is appointed by the President (Art. 75(1)).
• The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Art. 75(3)). This means all ministers stand or fall together.
• A trust vote needs a simple majority of members present and voting (Art. 100).
• If the government loses, the PM must resign.

1996: largest party, but no majority

• 11th Lok Sabha election, 1996: the BJP's seats rose from 113 to 161. It became the largest party, but no party had enough seats to form a government on its own [6].
• The President invited the BJP to form the government because it was the largest party.
• Most other parties opposed the BJP's policies, so it could not find allies.
• A.B. Vajpayee was sworn in as PM in May 1996. He stayed in office for only 13 days and resigned because other parties would not support him [6].
• Lesson: being the largest party is not enough. A government must win the confidence of the Lok Sabha.

The United Front (1996-98)

• United Front: a coalition led by the Janata Dal with 13 parties in all, most of them regional [2]. It was similar to the National Front of 1989.
• Many of its parties spoke for Dalit, OBC and regional groups. This reflects the post-Mandal rise of these groups.
• It formed the government with support from the Congress, which stayed outside the government. The aim was to keep the BJP out of power [2].
• Two Prime Ministers:

PM	Term	How the term ended
H.D. Deve Gowda	June 1996 – April 1997 [4]	Congress withdrew support; he lost a trust vote 292 to 158 in April 1997 [3]
I.K. Gujral	21 April 1997 – 19 March 1998 [3]	Congress withdrew support again; mid-term election in 1998

• Reversal of 1989:
• 1989: the BJP and the Left both backed the National Front from outside, to keep the Congress out.
• 1996: the Congress and the Left backed the United Front, to keep the BJP out.

• This shows how unstable political loyalties were in this period.

• The Left's split role: the CPI joined the cabinet, but the CPI(M) stayed outside.

• Kesri cartoon (NCERT): Congress president Sitaram Kesri withdrew Congress's "crutches" (support) twice, first from Gowda and then from Gujral. A government that depends on outside support can fall whenever the supporter changes its mind.

Common Minimum Programme (CMP)

• Common Minimum Programme: the shared list of policies that coalition partners agree on as the basis for governing. Each party gives up some of its own demands and keeps only what all can accept.
• United Front CMP (1996): its basic agenda covered national development, equity, social justice and secularism. It promised to [5]:
• strengthen the federal structure (the sharing of power between the Centre and the states)
• empower SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities
• provide basic minimum services

• remove poverty and ignorance

• NDA's National Agenda for Governance (1998): for example, it aimed to provide drinking water to all rural habitations within five years [8].

• UPA's National CMP (2004): the same method, used by a Congress-led coalition.
• How it works: coordination committees or steering committees of coalition leaders settle disputes and manage the CMP day to day.

CMP	Year	Coalition	Lead party
Common Minimum Programme	1996	United Front	Janata Dal
National Agenda for Governance	1998	NDA	BJP
National Common Minimum Programme	2004	UPA	Congress

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA)

• National Democratic Alliance: the BJP-led coalition of national and regional parties, with A.B. Vajpayee as PM.
• First NDA government (March 1998 – April 1999):
• The AIADMK left the coalition.
• Vajpayee was asked to win a trust vote.

• He lost by just one vote and resigned [6].

• Second NDA government (October 1999 – May 2004):

• It formed after the 13th Lok Sabha election, 1999. The BJP was again the largest party [7].
• PIB described the NDA as a pre-election alliance of parties from different regions. This was different from the post-election deals of 1996 [7].
• President K.R. Narayanan gave the oath. It was Vajpayee's third term. He became the only PM since Nehru to hold office through three successive mandates [7].
• The first council had 23 Cabinet ministers, 7 Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and about 40 Ministers of State [7].

• It was the first non-Congress government to complete a full five-year term.

• Allies: Shiv Sena, Samata Party/JD(U), BJD, Akali Dal, DMK, Trinamool Congress and National Conference, with outside support from the TDP (verify).

• Pragmatism over ideology:
• Most allies did not share the BJP's Hindutva (Hindu-nationalist) ideology.
• So the BJP set aside three core issues: the Ayodhya temple, Article 370 (special status for Jammu and Kashmir) and a uniform civil code (one set of personal laws for all religions).

• This shows that coalition needs can soften a party's ideology.

• Later: the NDA came back to power in 2014.

Prelims Hooks

• The BJP became the largest party in the 1996 election with 161 seats (up from 113), but Vajpayee's first government lasted only 13 days [6].
• United Front = a 13-party coalition led by the Janata Dal, supported by the Congress from outside [2].
• United Front PMs in order: H.D. Deve Gowda (June 1996 – April 1997), then I.K. Gujral (April 1997 – March 1998) [3][4].
• Trap: in 1989 the Left and the BJP backed the National Front against the Congress. In 1996 the Congress and the Left backed the United Front against the BJP.
• The CPI joined the United Front cabinet. The CPI(M) did not.
• The Vajpayee government fell in April 1999 by one vote after the AIADMK left [6].
• The NDA (1999-2004) was the first non-Congress government to complete a full term.
• Match: National Agenda for Governance → NDA (1998); CMP → United Front (1996); National CMP → UPA (2004).
• Constitutional basis of the trust vote: collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha, Art. 75(3).

Mains Points

• Outside support is unstable: the Congress withdrew support twice in 1997-98 and brought down both United Front PMs. The supporter gets power without being accountable for the government's record. (GS-II: stability vs representation in coalition governments.)
• The CMP as a coalition tool: a written agenda plus coordination committees made coalitions workable (United Front, NDA, UPA). But it also weakened the PM's freedom and collective responsibility, because allies could block decisions.
• Pragmatism over ideology: the NDA dropped the temple, Art. 370 and a uniform civil code to keep its allies. Coalitions pushed parties towards the political centre and gave regional parties a say at the Centre. This strengthened federalism in practice. (GS-I: post-1947 politics.)
• Stable coalitions are possible: a pre-election alliance with a large anchor party (the NDA in 1999) proved more stable than post-election groupings without one (the United Front in 1996). This is a common argument when stability reforms such as a constructive vote of no-confidence are discussed.