The Vajpayee era continues

The Kargil War boosted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s popularity. The 2001 Parliament breach, 2002 Gujarat riots and ideological fissures within the BJP later spelled trouble for the National Democratic Alliance.

Aglimmer of stability shined on this Lok Sabha. With the promise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s popularity, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was elected to power, making it the first non-Congress government to complete a full term. Mr. Vajpayee’s third stint as Prime Minister was notable for economic and infrastructural reforms, such as the Golden Quadrilateral Project. Efforts to build peace with Pakistan and his ‘war hero’ image in the aftermath of the Kargil War contributed to Mr. Vajpayee’s individual appeal. The 2001 Parliament breach, 2002 Gujarat riots and ideological fissures within the BJP eventually ejected the NDA from power.

The polls

The elections were held in five phases between September 5 and October 3, 1999 — the longest political campaign for a general election in Independent India at the time. Across 543 constituencies, the total number of voters dropped by 1% in comparison to 1998; voter turnout was recorded at 59.99%, a 1.97% dip. There were 4,648 candidates in the picture, and polls were fought between seven national, 40 State and 122 registered parties.

In addition to the ballot paper, electronic voting machines (EVMs) were piloted during this election. The election was marred by bogus voting claims and violent incidents in places, including Assam’s Dhubri constituency and Kashmir’s Anantnag. A plot to kill then-Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah also surfaced in the area.

The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged a clear winner with 182 seats, followed by the Indian National Congress (114 seats) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 33 seats. The BJP left its mark across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, and recorded the lowest voter base in Jammu and Kashmir. Congress under-performed in comparison to the 1998 elections; maximum voters came from Karnataka.

The BJP worked an alliance with 24 parties, big and small, to form the National Democratic Alliance. It was propped on the shoulders of its regional alliances: the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh, DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Samata Party in Bihar, the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

The house of the people

The third stint proved most successful for Mr. Vajpayee. His role as the coalition builder — of engaging in negotiations with various regional parties, presenting central leadership and working out a common agenda — helped BJP secure victory. Analysts often described him as the “right man in the wrong party”. He “managed the rare feat of wearing his RSS identity just as easily as his image of being a moderate in the Sangh Parivar,” Sandeep Phukan wrote in The Hindu.

An anti-incumbency factor was at play too, working favouribly in Andhra Pradesh where N. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP with BJP won three-fourths of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.

Janata Dal stalwarts, including Deve Gowda and J.H. Patel were defeated. The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party leader Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi was elected for six consecutive terms from Hyderabad. INC’s Sonia Gandhi served as the Leader of the Opposition during this tenure. Mrs. Gandhi contested the election from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Ballari in Karnataka. She won from both seats. However, Mrs. Gandhi’s popularity this year took a beating “because of the way she handled the political situation” following the collapse of the Vajpayee regime in 1998, The Hindu noted in an editorial.

After G.V.C. Balayogi’s death, senior leader of Shiv Sena Manohar Joshi took over as the Speaker of the House from May 2002 to June 2004. Mr. Joshi, who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, was among Bal Thackeray’s most trusted aides. The Lok Sabha electorate noted his “unique approach” to parliamentary reforms: Mr. Joshi believed frequent forced adjournments lowered the dignity of the House and facilitated a more purposeful Zero Hour.

The politics

BJP’s strategic alliances with regional parties brought immense electoral advantage, giving it a “victory that the party alone couldn’t have fathomed”, The Hindu wrote. Notably, the party’s individual tally remained the same as previous elections, leaving the leading party to be considerably dependent on its omnibus alliance. Later, DMK’s M. Karunanidhi would leave the NDA and deliver all 39 seats to Congress.

However, coalitions and multi-party agreements were the “political imperative” at the time, and Congress (I) floundered to meet this expectation. Mrs. Gandhi, who played chief electioneer and was seen as charismatic in the 1998 elections, failed to sway voters too. BJP and NDA also capitalised on Mr. Vajpayee’s ‘war hero’ image in the aftermath of the Kargil War. The campaign pitted Mr. Vajpayee with Mrs. Gandhi, his ‘swadeshi’ appeal versus a ‘videshi’ distance. In 2003, even while BJP’s ratings dipped, Mr. Vajpayee approval ratings soared, according to polls at the time. “Mr. Vajpayee could rightly be called the torchbearer of the party’s acceptance and rise to power,” The Hindu noted in an analysis.

The BJP eventually succumbed to ideological conflicts. Mr. Vajpayee’s deputy L.K. Advani in a 2005 interview called it the “Congressisation of the BJP”, referring to corruption charges and growing factionalism. The resentment against then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra riot landscape furthered this divide. Mr. Vajpayee reportedly expressed “distinct disapproval” to Mr. Modi for his handling of the post-Godhra situation; Mr. Advani reportedly stopped him from acting against Mr. Modi. Moreover, “the RSS, the ideological mothership of the BJP felt hard done by as many of its core ideological issues, they felt, had not been addressed by a government they helped get into power,”wrote The Hindu’s Nistula Hebbar.

The agenda

The Vajpayee-led government launched infrastructural projects like the Golden Quadrilateral Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which transformed India’s road connectivity network. The flagship scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was also launched in 2021, aimed at universalising elementary education. The government expanded the scope of privatisation.

The NDA Government introduced the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) legislation, after the attack on Lok Sabha on December 13, 2001. The perpetrators were identified to belong to Pakistan-based terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Mr. Vajpayee maintained efforts of achieving peace with neighbouring Pakistan and visited the country in January 2004 to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf later assured India that he would not permit any territory under Pakistan’s control to be used to support terrorism in any manner.

The government received flak for Mr. Modi’s handling of the Gujarat riots. Mr. Vajpayee announced a series of rehabilitation packages and central assistance for the victims. Mr. Vajpayee reportedly was against any talk of “Hindu consolidation” to yield electoral advantage for the BJP. In 1999, when the NDA was elected, The Hindu remarked on the failure of non-BJP parties to highlight “the looming threat to the nation’s secularist fabric from the Sangh Parivar despite disavowal by the Vajpayee regime”.

The government called for early elections in 2004 six months ahead of schedule, confident of its victory. The BJP popularised the “India Shining” slogan as shorthand of the government’s economic achievements. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh last year called the slogan a “mistake”.

The 13th Lok Sabha was dissolved on February 5.

References

1. Lok Sabha Secretariat, “Manohar Joshi”
2. The Hindu Archives
3. Election Commission of India
4. Election Atlas of India: Parliamentary elections 1952 – 2014, edited by Dr. R. K. Thukral