Context of the 1990s

The decade starting from the late 1980s was a period of significant and lasting change in Indian politics. After Rajiv Gandhi led the Congress party to a massive victory in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, five key developments occurred that would reshape the country's political landscape.

The Defeat of the Congress Party: In the 1989 elections, the Congress party's seats in the Lok Sabha dropped from 415 to just 197. This election marked the end of the 'Congress system', a term used by political scientists to describe the party's long-standing dominance. Although Congress returned to power in 1991, it never regained the central position it once held in the party system.
The Rise of the 'Mandal Issue': In 1990, the National Front government decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. This meant reserving jobs in the central government for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The decision led to widespread, violent 'anti-Mandal' protests and created a major political debate between supporters and opponents of OBC reservations, which became known as the 'Mandal issue'.
New Economic Reforms: The economic policy of India took a sharp turn. Started under Rajiv Gandhi, these changes, known as the structural adjustment programme or new economic reforms, became highly visible in 1991. These reforms radically changed the direction of the Indian economy from what it had been since Independence. Despite criticism from various movements, successive governments have continued to follow these policies.
The Ram Janmabhoomi Movement: A long-standing legal and political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya became a central issue in Indian politics. This movement transformed the national conversation on secularism and democracy. The series of events culminated in the construction of the Ram Temple following a Supreme Court decision on November 9, 2019.
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: In May 1991, during an election campaign in Tamil Nadu, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Sri Lankan Tamil linked to the LTTE. This event led to a change in the Congress party's leadership. In the 1991 elections, Congress emerged as the single largest party, and Narsimha Rao became the Prime Minister.

Era of Coalitions

The 1989 elections ushered in a new phase in Indian politics: the era of coalition governments. No single party won a clear majority, which meant different parties had to come together to form a government.

Decline of Congress

The 1989 election results confirmed the end of Congress's dominance. Unlike in the late 1960s, when Indira Gandhi managed to re-establish the party's predominant position, the challenge in the 1990s was different. No other single party emerged to take Congress's place. This led to the beginning of a multi-party system where power was shared among several parties.

Note

From 1989 until 2014, no single party secured a clear majority in any Lok Sabha election. This meant that all governments formed during this period were either coalition governments or minority governments supported by other parties from the outside.

Alliance politics

The period after 1989 was marked by shifting and often unstable political alliances.

The National Front (1989): This alliance of the Janata Dal and other regional parties formed the government with outside support from two ideologically opposite groups: the BJP and the Left Front. Both wanted to keep the Congress party out of power.
The United Front (1996): This government, which also included the Janata Dal and several regional parties, came to power with the support of the Congress. This time, both the Congress and the Left wanted to keep the BJP out of power.
The Rise of the BJP: The BJP continued to grow stronger through the 1990s. In the 1996 election, it became the largest single party and was invited to form the government. However, it couldn't secure a majority and its government was short-lived.
The NDA Governments: The BJP finally came to power leading a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from May 1998 to June 1999, and was re-elected in October 1999. The government formed in 1999, with Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister, was the first coalition government to complete its full five-year term.

Example

Think of coalition politics like a team project in school. No single student can complete the project alone, so several students with different ideas must work together. Sometimes, students who don't normally agree will team up to achieve a common goal, just as the BJP and the Left Front supported the same government in 1989.

Political Rise of Other Backward Classes

A key long-term development of this period was the rise of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) as a major political force. OBCs are communities, other than Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), that are considered socially and educationally backward.

'Mandal' implemented

The political mobilization of OBCs began much earlier. Parties that formed the Janata Party government in 1977 had strong support among OBC communities. In the 1980s, the Janata Dal brought together similar political groups.

The decision by the National Front government in 1990 to implement the Mandal Commission's recommendations was a turning point. It made OBC communities more aware of their collective identity and helped political parties seeking to mobilize them. These parties demanded better opportunities for OBCs in education and employment and a greater share of political power.

The Mandal Commission

Background: While reservations for OBCs existed in southern states, the policy was not active in north India. The Janata Party government (1977-79) appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission in 1978 to address this.
Chairperson: The commission was popularly known as the Mandal Commission after its chairperson, Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal (B.P. Mandal).
Recommendations: The commission submitted its report in 1980. It identified many castes, other than SCs, as "backward castes" and found they had a very low presence in education and public service. It recommended reserving 27 per cent of seats in educational institutions and government jobs for these groups.
Implementation and Aftermath: In August 1990, the National Front government decided to implement the job reservation recommendation. This sparked violent protests, especially in north India. The decision was challenged in the Supreme Court in what is known as the 'Indira Sawhney case'. In November 1992, the Supreme Court upheld the government's decision. Today, the policy of reservation for OBCs has the support of all major political parties.

Political fallouts

The 1980s also saw the rise of political organizations for Dalits.

In 1978, the Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) was formed. It argued for political power for the 'bahujan' (SC, ST, OBC, and minorities).
From this movement, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) emerged under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.
The BSP achieved a major political breakthrough in Uttar Pradesh in the 1989 and 1991 elections, becoming the first party supported mainly by Dalit voters to achieve such success in independent India. The BSP has since become a major political party in the state.

Communalism, Secularism, Democracy

Another significant development was the rise of politics based on religious identity, which sparked a national debate on the meaning of secularism and democracy.

After the Janata Party broke up, supporters of the former Bharatiya Jana Sangh formed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980. Initially, the BJP adopted 'Gandhian Socialism' but found little success. After 1986, the party began to emphasize nationalism and the politics of 'Hindutva'.

Hindutva, an idea popularized by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, argues that to be an Indian, one must accept India as both their 'fatherland' (pitrubhu) and their 'holy land' (punyabhu). It proposes that a strong nation can be built on a united national culture, which in India's case, is Hindutva.

Two key events shaped the BJP's politics in this period:

The Shah Bano Case (1985): The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a 62-year-old divorced Muslim woman, Shah Bano, granting her maintenance from her former husband. When some orthodox Muslim leaders protested this as interference in Muslim Personal Law, the Congress government passed an act in 1986 that nullified the court's judgment. The BJP criticized this action as 'appeasement' of the minority community.
The Ayodhya Issue: This long-standing dispute over a religious site in Ayodhya became a central focus of national politics.

Ayodhya Issue

The dispute involved a three-dome structure built in 1528 at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Shri Ram.

The issue became a legal battle, and the structure was sealed in 1949.
In 1986, a district court ordered the structure to be unlocked for worship. This heightened tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities over ownership rights.
In 1992, the structure was demolished, an event that many critics saw as a major challenge to Indian democracy.

From Legal Proceedings to Amicable Acceptance

The Ayodhya conflict was eventually resolved through legal and democratic processes.

On November 9, 2019, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous verdict.
The Court allotted the disputed site for the construction of a Ram temple and directed the government to allot a separate site to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for building a mosque.
The resolution of this sensitive issue through the due process of law is seen as an example of the maturity of India's democratic traditions.

Emergence of a new consensus

The period after 1989 is often seen as one of Congress's decline and the BJP's rise. The political competition became largely divided between the coalition led by the Congress and the coalition led by the BJP.

Lok Sabha Elections (2004-2019)

2004: The BJP-led NDA was defeated, and a Congress-led coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), came to power with support from Left Front parties.
2009: The UPA returned to power with an increased number of seats for the Congress, and Dr. Manmohan Singh continued as Prime Minister.
2014: This election was a watershed moment. The BJP, with Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate, won 282 seats on its own, becoming the first party in 30 years to gain a single-party majority. It still formed an NDA government with its allies.
2019: The BJP won again, increasing its own tally to 303 seats.