The economic liberalisation era

Narasimha Rao rewrote India’s economic policy, marking the beginning of the liberalisation era. The Babri Masjid demolition and Mandal Commission report injected a note of violent polarisation. 

The Tenth Lok Sabha was constituted on June 21, 1991. one month after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Congress had chosen P.V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister. Mr. Rao famously liberalised the Indian economy, introducing a series of economic reforms to encourage private sector investment and free market competition.

The tenure stood witness to the fallout of the ‘Mandal-Mandir’ politics: Mr. Rao implemented 27% reservation of backward classes in educational institutions and government jobs, and the Ram Janmbhoomi movement galvanised by BJP leader L.K. Advani, resulting in the “barbaric” destruction of Babri Masjid mosque. Secessionist threats emerged in parts of Punjab, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir.

The polls

The polls were the first of their kind: voting took place in a three-phase poll between May 20, 1991, to February 19, 1992. This was the first-time elections happened in June. Among the 543 Constituencies, voter turnout stood at 55.88%, a dip from the 1989 elections and the lowest in the history of Indian elections. A politically strained environment became the backdrop: former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam while campaigning at Sriperembudur, while campaigning a day after the first round of polling. Polling was thus postponed in three States due to security concerns.

There were 9,000 candidates in the mix. A three-cornered fight unfolded between the Congress, the ultra-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and National Front-Kanata Dal-Left Front coalition. The verdict threw a hung parliament; Congress emerged as the single largest party with 232 seats, the BJP won 120 seats followed by Janata Dal with 59 seats. BJP’s national vote share increased from 11% in 1989 to 20% two years later.

“The verdict injected an element of instability into the present context”, The Hindu wrote in an editorial on June 21. The minority government of Congress (I), without support from the Opposition formed by the National Front-Left parties, “cannot embark on a very ambitious programme” on matters of national security and communal violence.

The house of the people

Congress made inroads into BJP bastions — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra with CM Sharad Pawar’s leadership helping. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) suffered a defeat in Tamil Nadu, and an alliance between the INC and AIADMK made a clean sweep. A ‘sympathy factor’ with Mr. Gandhi’s assassination may have played a role in Congress’s 1991 wins, the Hindu noted. The party was, however, wiped out of two key States of The Hindu heartland — Uttar Pradesh (where it extended support to the Mulayam Singh Yadav government) and Bihar.

BJP’s surge upwards was confined to Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat while it slipped to second place in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In U.P., the BJP “capitalised on the impression” that the Yadav administration’s handling of Ayodhya issue was “provocative”. Janata Dal lost ground in Orrisa, where it trounced the Congress two years ago, due to “a Hindutva wave”. Bihar is the only place “that has proved susceptible to the appeal of the Mandal platform”, The Hindu’s editorial on June 18 noted.

The National Front-Left alliance registered no presence in the South except for Andhra Pradesh where the Telugu Desam Party’s popularity held strong.

Two names sprung forth for the prime ministerial position: Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar and P.V. Narasimha Rao who had previously served in Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi’s candidate. Mr. Rao was sworn in on June 21, forming the first single-party minority government that would complete its term. Mr. Rao has to his name the distinction of being the first Prime Minister from the southern part of India; the second PM from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family, after Lal Bahadur Shastri. Mr. Rao “is the best person to lead the party at this juncture”, The Hindu noted; his choice “relatively non-controversial, ensuring a good measure of stability”.

The BJP emerged as the major Opposition party. L.K. Advani, who rode the popularity of the Rath Yatra, served as the Leader of the Opposition. The Speaker of the House during the session was Shivraj Patil, who had previously held ministerial roles under the Congress (I) governments

The politics

India’s party system was transformed with the emergence of coalition politics, and the strengthening of regional parties became more pronounced. States like Uttar Pradesh saw the rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), reflecting caste-based and regional politics. The “magic of a charismatic dynasty has vanished”, The Hindu noted, and Congress was compelled to transition from the protective cocoon of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

The political climate was definedby the fallout over Mr. Singh’s implementation of the Mandal Commission report and the Ram Mandir movement, which sparked a crescendo of communal violence in the nation. “…abrasive electioneering on the basis of Ram and Mandal have injected a note of violent polarisation”.

One reason for the BJP’s growing consolidation on voter base was the “failure of the centrist and the Left parties to provide a modern interpretation of the Nehruvian framework of a secular and progress politics”. There was a “failure to have a distinct identity”, The Hindu noted in an editorial.

The agenda

The Tenth Lok Sabha sat for 2,528 hours in 423 sittings held during 16 sessions. The government discussed law and order situation, notably in Punjab and Kashmir. Mr. Rao’s policies proposed progressive economic liberalisation as an antidote to an ailing economy, plagued by inflation, fiscal deficit and foreign debt. This was a marked change from Congress’s previous endorsements of socialism.

The ‘Mandal and Mandir’ issue flared again in 1992. The demolition of Babri Masjid “delivered a lethal blow to the image of a secular and democratic India”, The Hindu said in an editorial on December 7, 1992.

Mr. Rao’s government faced three no confidence votes between 1992-1993. The closest result was in July 1993, when Mr. Rao controversially ‘engineered’ defections from the Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. The government won the motion with a margin of 14 votes.

The turbulent period saw India struggling to obtain a national consensus on the issues of national security, integrity and economy. The Lok Sabha was dissolved on May 10, 1996.

References

1. Election Commission of India
2. Election Atlas of India: Parliamentary elections 1952 – 2014, edited by Dr. R. K. Thukral
3. The audio and video were taken from Prasar Bharati Archives’ YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6A96n2YBck and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HffcKtZyJmk
4. The Hindu Archives