UPA’s downfall
The Congress-led UPA retained power, passing key legislation including the Right to Education Act and reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh. The government crumbled under the weight of economic slowdown and corruption scandals
Congress’s resurgence continued. The United Progressive Alliance returned to power with a stronger mandate. Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the Prime Minister for a second term, the first PM since Indira Gandhi to have full two terms to their credit. The Samajwadi Party emerged as the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh, and the Telangana movement reached a crest with the passing of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The tenure was marred by a significant growth slowdown, poor delivery of welfare schemes and a score of corruption scandals that would deplete people’s trust in the ruling party.
BJP stalwart Sushma Swaraj was the Leader of the Opposition during UPA-II’s tenure. Mrs. Swaraj was a “woman of many firsts”: the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi, the country’s youngest-ever Cabinet Minister and the first woman spokesperson for a national party.
The nation also saw the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha in Meira Kumar, the daughter of freedom fighter and former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram. Ms. Kumar had worked with the Indian Foreign Service and was known for her work in social justice and women’s issues. She secured UPA’s nomination for a presidential candidate in 2017, pitted against NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind.
The politics
Congress had “sown the seeds of its own resurgence by adopting a long-sighted strategy in the two key Hindi-speaking States”, The Hindu’s editorial noted. UPA also overcame the anti-incumbency sentiment and the communal plank on which BJP’s campaigning was built. Factional infighting in Kerala and a strong oppositional alliance in West Bengal stymied Left’s claim to power. In Tamil Nadu, where the Congress fought with ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Sri Lankan Tamil issue dominated campaign rhetoric.
Corruption, price rise and an economic lull plagued this tenure; the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party succeeded in creating an anti-Congress mood by highlighting the string of scams, from 2G spectrum to coal allocation.
The agenda
The parliament was also disrupted frequently, its productivity (61%) being the worst in more than 50 years at the time. The UPA and Opposition parties feuded over the 2G spectrum scam, coal blocks, FDI in retail, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing for Congress. Narendra Modi’s alleged favour to the Adani business group and Nitin Gadkari’s collusion with the Purti group were also discussed. A lack of assuring leadership, inability to control prices and charges of corruption drove voter sentiment away from the UPA. By 2013, three in four people believed that the UPA-II was corrupt, and that corruption had increased in this tenure, a poll showed.
About 222 Bills were introduced (apart from Finance and Appropriation Bills); 165 passed by the House and 71% of the Bills were referred to Parliamentary Committees for examination. The Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill, which split the State into Telangana, was passed amidst a TV blackout. In an editorial dated February 23, The Hindu compared the parliament to “a wrestling arena”.
Significant laws that were cleared included the Right to Education, Land Acquisition, Food Security, Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bills and the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill. Under Mr. Singh’s government, India concluded several free trade agreements, including with South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and ASEAN.
India’s economy also grew faster on average during his time in office than ever before in recorded history despite a hostile international economic environment. Still, rising prices, faltering growth, weakening currency and a burgeoning deficit hampered UPA’s ability to create jobs and manage inflation. Scholars have attributed UPA’s political troubles to “an inability to tackle the consequences of accelerated economic growth”.
“The political costs of the UPA’s continuing state of denial are bound to be high.” The Hindu wrote in an editorial on January 4, 2014. The 15th Lok Sabha was dissolved on May 18, 2014.
References
- Election Commission of India
- Election Atlas of India: Parliamentary elections 1952 – 2014, edited by Dr. R. K. Thukral
- Ghatak, M., Ghosh, P., % Kotwal, A. (2014). Growth in the Time of UPA: Myths and Reality.Economic and Political Weekly, 49(16), 34-43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24480153
- The video was taken from the Indian National Congress’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbwk_mptV9U The Hindu Archives
- Vital Stats: “Performance of Parliament during the 15th Lok Sabha” report by PRS Legislative Research India
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