A fast revision cut of Class 12 Political Science, Politics in India Since Independence,
Chapter 8, Recent Developments in Indian Politics. This is the last chapter of the book and of
the course. Every definition, every date and every named fact the paper asks for, with nothing in
between. Read the full notes first; read this the morning of the exam.
The chapter states its own scope, in its own words, in the Let Us Do It Together box at the
end: “This chapter covers the major developments in Indian politics until the 2004 Elections (14th
Lok Sabha). Subsequently, the Lok Sabha elections were held in 2009, during which the UPA led by the
Congress won. In the 2014 and 2019 Elections, the NDA led by the BJP emerged victorious. The position
of various parties in the 17th Lok Sabha is given on page 155.”
So the latest dated event anywhere in this chapter is the Supreme Court judgment of 9 November
2019. Nothing after 2019 is part of this chapter, and nothing after 2019 appears in these notes,
in our question bank or in our NCERT solutions. In the exam, answer from the book.
One more thing about this chapter. It deals with recent elections, reservation policy,
communalism and the Ayodhya dispute. Everything below is what the textbook itself says, in the
textbook’s own words. Where the book makes a judgement rather than states a fact, these notes say so
(“the chapter states”, “the chapter’s own conclusion”), so you always know which is which. Write it
the same way in the exam.
1 All the Definitions
The ‘Congress system’. The term for the period in which the Congress party itself was a
coalition of different interests and different social strata and groups, and held a centrality
in the party system that no other party had. The elections of 1989 marked its end.
The ‘Mandal issue’. The dispute between the supporters and opponents of OBC
reservations, which arose after the National Front government’s decision in 1990 to implement the
Mandal Commission’s recommendation on central government jobs.
Other Backward Classes (OBC). The administrative category covering communities other
than SC and ST who suffer from educational and social backwardness. Also referred to as
‘backward castes’.
‘Bahujan’. As BAMCEF used the word, and as the chapter glosses it: the SC, ST, OBC and
minorities. Later in the chapter the same group is described as SC, ST, OBC and religious
minorities, who constituted the majority of the population.
Hindutva. Popularised by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as the basis of Indian
nationhood. It basically meant that to be an Indian, one must accept India as their
‘fatherland’ (pitrubhu) as well as their holy land (punyabhu). Believers argue that a strong
nation can be built on a united national culture, and that in India’s case Hindutva can provide
that base.
The structural adjustment programme, also called the new economic reforms. The
radically different economic policy started by Rajiv Gandhi, which first became very visible
in 1991 and changed the direction the Indian economy had pursued since Independence.
The Second Backward Classes Commission. The official name of the Mandal Commission,
so called because it was the second such commission appointed since Independence. Popularly
named after its Chairperson, Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal.
The ‘Indira Sawhney case’. The name by which the challenge to the Mandal decision in the
Supreme Court came to be known, after the name of one of the petitioners. In November
1992 the Court gave a ruling upholding the decision of the government.
2 Context of the 1990s
Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister after the assassination of Indira Gandhi and led the
Congress to a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections held immediately thereafter in 1984.
As the eighties closed, the country witnessed five developments that were to make a
long-lasting impact on our politics.
- First: the defeat of the Congress in the elections held in 1989. The party that had won
415 seats in 1984 was reduced to 197. It came back to power soon after the
mid-term elections held in 1991. But 1989 marked the end of the ‘Congress system’. The
Congress remained important and ruled more than any other party even after 1989, but lost the
kind of centrality it earlier enjoyed. - Second: the rise of the ‘Mandal issue’. The new National Front government in
1990 decided to implement the Mandal Commission’s recommendation that jobs in central
government should be reserved for the Other Backward Classes. This led to violent
‘anti-Mandal’ protests in different parts of the country. - Third: a radically different economic policy. The structural adjustment programme
or new economic reforms, started by Rajiv Gandhi, first very visible in 1991.
Widely criticised by movements and organisations, yet continued by every government since. - Fourth: the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute enters politics. The centuries old legal and
political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya began influencing Indian politics.
The Movement, becoming the central issue, transformed the direction of the discourse on
secularism and democracy. These changes culminated in the construction of the Ram Temple at
Ayodhya following the decision of the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, announced on
9 November 2019. - Finally: the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. He was assassinated by a Sri
Lankan Tamil linked to the LTTE while on an election campaign tour in Tamil Nadu. In the
1991 elections the Congress emerged as the single largest party, and the party chose
Narsimha Rao as Prime Minister.
The chapter describes itself as “a synoptic view of the last two decades of politics in
India”, and warns that these developments are complex because “various kinds of factors came
together to produce unanticipated outcomes in this period”.
It opens by asking, and says plainly that it does not answer them: what are the
implications of the rise of coalition politics for our democracy; what is
Mandalisation all about and how will it change the nature of political representation; what is
the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement; and what does the rise of a new policy
consensus do to the nature of political choices. It says it “simply gives you the necessary
information and some tools”. It also warns that these developments are controversial, “for
these involve deep conflicts and we are still too close to the events”.
3 Era of Coalitions
- The 1989 elections defeated the Congress but gave no other party a majority.
- The Congress was the largest party in the Lok Sabha but had no clear majority, and
therefore decided to sit in the opposition. - The National Front, itself an alliance of Janata Dal and some other regional
parties, received support from two diametrically opposite political groups: the BJP and the
Left Front. - Learn the second half of that sentence too: “but the BJP and the Left Front did not
join in this government”. Supporting from outside is not the same as joining.
Decline of Congress
The defeat marked the end of Congress dominance over the Indian party system. In the late
sixties the dominance had been challenged, but the Congress under Indira Gandhi re-established its
predominant position. The nineties saw yet another challenge. It did not, however, mean the
emergence of any other single party to fill its place.
Alliance politics
- The nineties saw powerful parties and movements representing the Dalit and backward castes
(OBCs), many of them also representing powerful regional assertion. - They played an important role in the United Front government that came to power in
1996, which was similar to the National Front of 1989 because it included Janata Dal
and several regional parties. - The difference: this time the BJP did not support the government. The United
Front government was supported by the Congress. The chapter says this “shows how unstable the
political equations were”. - The contrast to memorise. In 1989, both the Left and the BJP supported the
National Front because they wanted to keep the Congress out of power. In 1996, the
Left kept supporting a non-Congress government but this time the Congress supported it too,
as both wanted to keep the BJP out of power.
- Continued to consolidate its position in the elections of 1991 and 1996.
- Largest party in the 1996 election and invited to form the government, but most
other parties opposed its policies, so the BJP government could not secure a majority in the
Lok Sabha. - Came to power leading a coalition government from May 1998 to June 1999, and was
re-elected in October 1999. - Atal Behari Vajpayee was Prime Minister during both NDA governments, and the
government formed in 1999 completed its full term.
Since the elections of 1989 there have been eleven governments at the Centre, all of which
have been either coalition governments or minority governments supported by other parties, which
did not join the government. Any government could be formed only with the participation or
support of many regional parties. The chapter’s own list: the National Front in 1989, the
United Front in 1996 and 1997, the BJP-led coalition in 1998, the NDA in 1999, the UPA in 2004 and
2009. However, this trend changed in 2014.
The other line to remember: no single party secured a clear majority of seats in any Lok
Sabha election held since 1989 till 2014, but in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections the BJP
got a clear majority on its own.
In earlier times the Congress party itself was a ‘coalition’ of different interests and
social strata, which gave rise to the term ‘Congress system’. Especially since the late
1960s various sections had been leaving the Congress fold and forming separate parties, and
many regional parties rose after 1977. These weakened the Congress but did not enable any
single party to replace it.
4 Political Rise of Other Backward Classes
- OBC is the administrative category ‘Other Backward Classes’: communities other than SC
and ST who suffer from educational and social backwardness, also called ‘backward
castes’. - Support for the Congress among many sections of the backward castes had declined (noted
in Chapter Six), which created a space for non-Congress parties. - Their rise first found political expression at the national level in the form of the Janata
Party government in 1977. Constituents such as the Bharatiya Kranti Dal and the
Samyukta Socialist Party had a powerful rural base among sections of the OBC.
‘Mandal’ implemented
In the 1980s the Janata Dal brought together a similar combination of political groups with
strong support among the OBCs. The National Front government’s decision to implement the Mandal
recommendations further helped in shaping the politics of ‘Other Backward Classes’. The
intense national debate for and against reservation in jobs made people from OBC communities
more aware of this identity, and so helped those who wanted to mobilise them. Many parties
emerged seeking better opportunities for OBCs in education and employment and raising the
question of the share of power. Their claim: since OBCs constituted a large segment of
Indian society, it was only democratic that they get adequate representation in
administration and their due share of political power.
- Reservations for the OBC existed in southern States since the 1960s, if not earlier, but
the policy was not operative in north Indian States. - The demand in north India and at the national level was strongly raised during the tenure of
the Janata Party government in 1977-79. Karpoori Thakur, the then Chief Minister of
Bihar, was a pioneer in this direction; his government had introduced a new policy of
reservations for OBCs in Bihar. - Following this the central government appointed a Commission in 1978. It was the
second time since Independence, so it was officially the Second Backward Classes
Commission, popularly the Mandal Commission after Chairperson Bindeshwari Prasad
Mandal. - Its mandate: investigate the extent of educational and social backwardness among
various sections of Indian society, recommend ways of identifying these ‘backward classes’,
and recommend ways in which this backwardness could be ended. - It gave its recommendations in 1980. By then the Janata government had fallen.
- It advised that ‘backward classes’ should be understood to mean ‘backward castes’, since
many castes other than the Scheduled Castes were also treated as low in the caste
hierarchy. - Its survey found these castes had a very low presence in both educational institutions
and in employment in public services. - It therefore recommended reserving 27 per cent of seats in educational institutions and
government jobs. It also made many other recommendations, like land reform. - In August 1990 the National Front government decided to implement one of them:
reservations for OBCs in jobs in the central government and its undertakings. The decision
sparked agitations and violent protests in many cities of north India. - It was challenged in the Supreme Court and came to be known as the ‘Indira Sawhney
case’, after one of the petitioners. In November 1992 the Court upheld the
government’s decision. - There were some differences among political parties about the manner of implementation,
but the chapter records that the policy now has support of all the major political parties of the
country.
Political fallouts
- The 1980s also saw the rise of political organisation of the Dalits.
- In 1978 the Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) was
formed. It was not an ordinary trade union of government employees: it took a strong
position in favour of political power to the ‘bahujan’, the SC, ST, OBC and minorities. - Out of this emerged the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti and later the Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP), under the leadership of Kanshi Ram. - The BSP began as a small party supported largely by Dalit voters in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar
Pradesh, but in 1989 and the 1991 elections it achieved a breakthrough in Uttar
Pradesh. This was the first time in independent India that a political party supported mainly
by Dalit voters had achieved this kind of political success. - Under Kanshi Ram the BSP was envisaged as an organisation based on pragmatic politics. It
derived confidence from the fact that the Bahujans (SC, ST, OBC and religious minorities)
constituted the majority of the population and were a formidable political force on the
strength of their numbers. - Since then the BSP has become a major political player in the State and has been in
government on more than one occasion. Its strongest support still comes from Dalit
voters, but it has expanded its support to various other social groups. - The line the examiner likes: “In many parts of India, Dalit politics and OBC politics
have developed independently and often in competition with each other.”
M.P. from Bihar for 1967-1970 and 1977-1979. Chaired the Second Backward Classes
Commission that recommended reservations for Other Backward Classes. A socialist leader from
Bihar. Chief Minister of Bihar for just a month and a half in 1968. Joined the Janata
Party in 1977.
Proponent of Bahujan empowerment and founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Left his central
government job for social and political work. Founder of BAMCEF, DS-4 and finally the BSP in
1984. An astute political strategist, he regarded political power as the master key to
attaining social equality. Credited with Dalit resurgence in north Indian States.
5 Communalism, Secularism, Democracy
- The other long-term development: the visible rise of politics based on religious identity,
leading to a debate about secularism and democracy. - In the aftermath of the Emergency the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had merged with the Janata
Party (noted in Chapter Six). After the fall of the Janata Party and its break-up, the
supporters of the erstwhile Jana Sangh formed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980. - Initially the BJP adopted a broader political platform than the Jana Sangh: it
embraced ‘Gandhian’ Socialism’ along with cultural nationalism as its ideology. It did not
get much success in the elections held in 1984. - After 1986 the party began to emphasise nationalism as the core of its ideology,
and also pursued the politics of ‘Hindutva’ for political mobilisation. - Two developments around 1986 became central to the politics of BJP: the Shah Bano case,
and the Ayodhya issue.
- A 62-year old divorced Muslim woman had filed a case for maintenance from her former
husband. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Shah Bano. - Orthodox Muslims saw the Supreme Court’s order as an interference in Muslim Personal
Law. - On the demand of some Muslim leaders, the government passed the Muslim Women
(Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, which nullified the Supreme Court’s
judgement. - This action was opposed by many women’s organisations, many Muslim groups and most of the
intellectuals. - The BJP criticised this action of the Congress government as an unnecessary concession and
‘appeasement’ of the minority community.
“There is a very interesting incident dated November 28 1858, when Nihang Sikhs captured
the Janmabhoomi site and performed Puja and Havan, before being forcibly ousted by colonial
administration.”
Ayodhya Issue
- The issue was deeply rooted in the socio-cultural and political history of the country,
pertaining to different perspectives from various stakeholders. It involved contentions
regarding the birth place of Shri Ram, one of the most holy religious sites, and its legal
ownership. - Its significance can be judged from the 500-year long history, starting from 1528, marked
by numerous conflicts which are also documented in Lucknow, Barabanki and Faizabad district
Gazetteers. - A three-dome structure was built at the site of Shri Ram’s birth place in 1528, but the
structure had visible display of Hindu symbols and relics in its interior as well as its exterior
portions. The chapter says the issue therefore got linked to the national pride in its
ancient civilization. - Over the years it evolved into a prolonged legal battle, leading to the structure
being sealed in 1949 due to the onset of court proceedings. - In 1986 the Faizabad (now Ayodhya) district court ruled to unlock the structure,
allowing people to worship there. - The dispute had gone on for decades as it was believed that the three-dome structure was
built at Shri Ram’s birthplace after demolition of a temple. Although Shilaanyas for the
temple was done, further construction remained prohibited. - The Hindu community felt that their concerns related to the birth place of Shri Ram were
overlooked, while the Muslim community sought assurance of their possession over the
structure. Tensions heightened over ownership rights, and both communities desired a fair
resolution. - In 1992, following the demolition of the structure, some critics contended that it presented
a substantial challenge to the principles of Indian democracy. (The chapter attributes this to
“some critics”; keep the attribution when you write it.)
From Legal Proceedings to Amicable Acceptance
- In any society conflicts are bound to take place. In a multi-religious and
multi-cultural democratic society, these conflicts are usually resolved following the due
process of law. - Through court hearings, mediation attempts, popular movements, and finally with a 5-0 verdict
of a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on November 9, 2019, the Ayodhya issue was
resolved. The verdict sought to reconcile the conflicting interests of the various
stakeholders. - What the verdict did, both halves: it allotted the disputed site to the Shri Ram
Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust for the construction of Ram temple, and directed the
concerned government to allot appropriate site for the construction of a Mosque to the Sunni Central
Waqf Board. - The evidences the chapter names: archaeological excavations and historical records.
- The chapter’s own conclusion, which is a judgement and not a bare fact, so attribute it:
“In this way, democracy gives room for conflict resolution in a plural society like ours,
upholding the inclusive spirit of the Constitution.” It adds that “The Supreme Court’s
decision was celebrated by the society at large. It is a classic example of consensus building on a
sensitive issue that shows the maturity of democratic ethos which are civilizationally ingrained in
India.”
Printed under the heading “The excerpts referring to the Judgment of the constitutional Bench of
the Supreme Court (November 9,2019)”. Quote them exactly if you quote them at all.
Extract 1 (cited to Supreme Court Judgments, November 9, 2019, p. 920):
“…At the heart of the Constitution is a commitment to equality upheld and enforced by the rule of
law. Under our Constitution, citizens of all faiths, beliefs and creeds seeking divine provenance are
both subject to the law and equal before the law. Every judge of this Court is not merely tasked with
but sworn to uphold the Constitution and its values. The Constitution does not make a distinction
between the faith and belief of one religion and another. All forms of belief, worship and prayer are
equal…”
Extract 2 (cited to Supreme Court Judgments, November 9, 2019, p. 1045):
“It is thus concluded … that faith and belief of Hindus since prior to construction of Mosque and
subsequent thereto has always been that Janmaasthan of Lord Ram is the place where Babri Mosque has
been constructed which faith and belief is proved by documentary and oral evidence discussed
above.”
6 Emergence of a new consensus
The period after 1989 is seen sometimes as the period of decline of Congress and rise of
BJP. To understand the complex nature of political competition in this period, the chapter says
you have to compare the electoral performances of the Congress and the BJP, using its two
figures, Party Position (Number of seats won) in Lok Sabha and Vote Share.
The one factual line under the Vote Share figure: “since the 1989 election, the votes polled
by the two parties, Congress and the BJP, most of the time, add up to more than fifty per cent
except in 1996, 2004 and 2009.”
Lok Sabha Elections (2004-2019)
- 2004. The Congress too entered into coalitions in a big way. The NDA was
defeated and a new coalition government led by the Congress, the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA), came to power, supported by the Left Front parties. 2004 also saw the partial
revival of the Congress, which increased its seats once again after 1991. There was a
negligible difference between the votes polled by the Congress and its allies and the BJP and its
allies. - July 2008. The Left parties withdrew support on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear
deal, and the UPA government still completed its term. - 2009. Elections for the 15th Lok Sabha. The INC rose from 145 seats in 2004 to
206 in 2009. Dr. Manmohan Singh was sworn as Prime Minister for the second term, heading
the UPA coalition again. - September 2013. The BJP declared Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, as
its Prime Ministerial candidate. - 2014. The BJP got a clear majority in the 16th Lok Sabha elections, winning 282
seats on its own, and became the first party to gain a single party majority after 30
years. Despite that majority, the BJP chose to form the NDA government with its coalition
partners. The chapter calls 2014 “a proverbial watershed moment of Indian politics” and
says the government rapidly took decisions in social sector, foreign policy and economic
policy. - 2019. The BJP again emerged victorious with 303 seats of its own. The chapter’s
own comment: “Even when BJP is getting full majority, the recognition of coalition politics is
still relevant.” The party system has changed almost dramatically from what it was till the
seventies.
Growing consensus
- Agreement on new economic policies. Many groups are opposed, but most political
parties are in support, believing these policies would lead the country to prosperity and a
status of economic power in the world. - Acceptance of the political and social claims of the backward castes. All political
parties now support reservation of seats for the ‘backward classes’ in education and
employment, and are willing to ensure that the OBCs get adequate share of power. - Acceptance of the role of State level parties in governance of the country. The
distinction between State level and national level parties is fast becoming less important;
they share power at the national level and have played a central role in the country’s
politics of last twenty years or so. - Emphasis on pragmatic considerations rather than ideological positions, and political
alliances without ideological agreement. Coalition politics has shifted the focus from
ideological differences to power sharing arrangements. The chapter’s own example: most parties
of the NDA did not agree with the ‘Hindutva’ ideology of the BJP, yet came together to form a
government and remained in power for a full term.
We started this study with how the Congress emerged as a dominant party, and have arrived at
a more competitive politics, but politics based on a certain implicit agreement among the main
political actors. Even as parties act within this consensus, popular movements and
organisations are identifying new forms, visions and pathways of development. Issues like
poverty, displacement, minimum wages, livelihood and social security are being put on the
political agenda by peoples’ movements, reminding the state of its responsibility, and issues
of justice and democracy are being voiced in terms of class, caste, gender and regions. The
last line: “We cannot predict the future of democracy. All we know is that democratic politics is
here to stay in India and that it will unfold through a continuous churning of some of the factors
mentioned in this chapter.”
7 Every Box, Caption and Figure in One Place
- The 1990 cartoon. “Ups and downs of various political parties in the 1990s appeared to
many, like this cartoon drawn in 1990, as a roller coaster ride.” The nine riders
named: Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, L. K. Advani, Chandrashekhar, Jyoti Basu, N. T. Rama Rao,
Devi Lal, P. K. Mahanta and K. Karunanidhi. - Sitaram Kesri. “Congress leader Sitaram Kesri withdrew the crutches of support from
Deve Gowda’s United Front Government.” - The Amul butter advertisement (‘Every Mandal’s Choice’). “A reaction to Mandalisation.“
- The New Economic Policy cartoon (credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India). “Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister,
with Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, in the initial phase of the ‘New Economic
Policy’.” - The Ayodhya section image. “Message of Harmony.”
- Congress leadership magazine covers. “Leadership in Congress made many headlines.” Dated
1 May 1996, 25 October 1995, 20 August 2001 and 25 October 2004. - The National Front cartoon. “The National Front Government lead by V. P. Singh was
supported by the Left (represented here by Jyoti Basu) as well as the BJP (represented by
L. K. Advani).” Credit: Sudhir Tailang / HT Book of Cartoons. - The party-system cartoon. “A cartoonist’s depiction of the change from one-party
dominance to a multi-party alliance system.” Credit: Ajit Ninan / India Today. - The Mandal report photograph. “Implementation of Mandal Commission report sparked off
agitations and political upheavals.“ - Central Governments since 1989. The figure points to http://pmindia.gov.in/en for
details about current and former Prime Ministers, and notes that “The blank space is for you to
record more information on the major policies, performance and controversies about that
government.” - The illustration note. “This illustration is not a map drawn to scale and should
not be taken to be an authentic depiction of India’s external boundaries.”
- Let’s re-search. Talk to your parents about their memories of the events happening
since the 1990s; ask what they felt were the most significant events; in groups draw a
comprehensive list, see which events get cited most, and compare them with what the
chapter suggests were most significant; discuss why some events are more important for some and
not for others. - Let Us Do It Together. Carries the chapter’s cutoff statement (see the box at the top of
these notes). Also points to http://loksabha.nic.in for a detailed study of Members of the
17th Lok Sabha, to http://eci.nic.in for election results, and asks you to prepare a
timeline of the major political events in India since 2004. - The closing discussion box. Around the time of India’s independence many other
countries also became independent and adopted democracy. The chapter states that India
emerged as a mature democracy playing a great role in promoting social equality and national
development, while the same has not been the case in some of those countries, and asks
you to discuss the factors that have enabled democracy to thrive in India.
8 The Numbers
BJP 303 · INC 52 · DMK 24 · Shiv Sena 18 · JD(U) 16 · BJD 12 · BSP 10 · Other Parties 108.
Together, 543. The same figure also shows each party’s share of the 543 seats as a percentage (these are seat shares, not vote shares): BJP 56%, Others 20%, INC 10%, DMK 4%,
JD-U 3%, Shiv Sena 3%, BSP 2%, BJD 2%. Source printed: http://loksabha.nic.in.
The chapter prints a four-column table for 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019, sourced to the
Election Commission of India. Every column totals 543. The rows worth carrying into the
exam:
- BJP: 138 (2004), 116 (2009), 282 (2014), 303 (2019).
- INC: 145 (2004), 206 (2009), 44 (2014), 52 (2019).
- BSP: 19, 21, no seats shown, 10. DMK: 16, 18, no seats shown, 24.
- CPI-M: 43, 16, 9, 3. Shiv Sena: 12, 11, 18, 18.
- Others: 54, 60, 98, 82.
And the note under it: “Total Seats in Indian Parliament : 543 (530 from States and 13 from
UTs)”.
9 The Chapter in Twelve Lines
- Five developments closed the eighties: the Congress defeat of 1989, the
Mandal issue, the new economic reforms, the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute entering
politics, and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. - The Congress fell from 415 seats (1984) to 197 (1989), ending the ‘Congress
system’ without any single party replacing it. - The National Front (Janata Dal plus regional parties) governed with outside support from
the BJP and the Left Front, neither of which joined. - Eleven governments since 1989, all coalition or minority: National Front 1989,
United Front 1996 and 1997, BJP-led coalition 1998, NDA 1999, UPA 2004 and
2009. - Vajpayee led both NDA governments; the one formed in 1999 completed its full
term. - The Mandal Commission (appointed 1978, reported 1980) recommended 27 per
cent reservation; implemented August 1990; upheld by the Supreme Court in the Indira
Sawhney case, November 1992. - BAMCEF (1978) led to the BSP (1984) under Kanshi Ram, which broke through in
Uttar Pradesh in 1989 and 1991. Dalit and OBC politics developed independently and often
in competition. - The BJP was formed in 1980, emphasised nationalism after 1986 and pursued
Hindutva, popularised by Savarkar as pitrubhu and punyabhu. - The Shah Bano case (1985) and the government’s Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on
Divorce) Act, 1986 became central to the politics of the period. - The Ayodhya issue ran from 1528 through the sealing in 1949, the unlocking
in 1986 and the demolition in 1992, to the 5-0 verdict of 9 November 2019
allotting the site to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust and directing a site for
a Mosque to the Sunni Central Waqf Board. - The new consensus has four elements: new economic policies, the claims of the
backward castes, the role of State level parties, and pragmatism over ideology. - 2014 and 2019 changed the trend, with the BJP winning 282 and then 303
seats on its own, though the chapter says the recognition of coalition politics is still
relevant. Its last word: democratic politics is here to stay in India.