Chapter – 9

Recent Developments in Indian Politics

In this post we have given the detailed notes of class 12 Political Science Chapter 9 (Recent Developments in Indian Politics) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 12 board exams.

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Indian Politics (1991)

Five main changes in Indian politics after 1991

• Ayodhya dispute
• Madal commission
• New economic policy
• Beginning of coalition era
• End of congress dominance

Babri masjid

History of Babri Masjid

• Lord Rama who is considered one of the main deities of Hindu culture, was born in Ayodhya
• It is believed that a temple was built on the birthplace of lord Rama in medieval India.
• In the period of 1528-29, a mosque was built by demolishing this temple.
• This mosque was built by Mir Baqi, an officer of Babur.
• This mosque came to be known as Babri Masjid.

What is Ayodhya Dispute?

The conflict in the Ayodhya dispute is about whether the Babri Masjid was really built after demolishing the temple of lord Ram.

• Start of dispute

  • After the construction of the mosque, Muslims used to pray inside the mosque, while a separate platform was built for the Hindus outside where they used to worship.
  • In the period of 1853, there were minor disputes regarding the mosque, which were easily resolved by the British government of that time and this system continued.

• After independence

  • On the night of 22, 23 December 1949, some people entered the mosque and placed Ramlala (childhood idol of lord Ram) there.
  • The news was spread that Ram Lalla himself has appeared in the Babri masjid.
  • In view of this incident, a petition was filed in the court and it was said that because now Ram Lalla has appeared there, therefore Hindus should be allowed to offer prayers there.
  • But the court completely denied this and said in its decision that this is a disputed issue and there is a possibility of creating unrest in the country. Because of this the area was handed over to the local administration and the Babri masjid was locked.
  • Both Hindus and Muslims were barred from worshiping and offering prayers in the Babri masjid.

Ayodhya dispute and the 1980s

• This controversy gained momentum in the 1980s.
• In this period, Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised the demand that Ram temple should be built at Ram Janmabhoomi and made it a main issue of Indian politics.
• Bharatiya Janata Party also supported this issue.
• Under pressure, the government opened the locks of the Babri masjid.
• After the opening of the lock, there were riots in many places in the country and many people died in it.
• The Bharatiya Janata Party made it an important issue of national politics and this controversy gradually became serious.

Kar Seva and demolition of Babri masjid

• During this period, a Rath Yatra was taken out by LK Advani which started from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya.
• After this, the practice of Karseva increased and on 6 December 1992, the structure of Babri masjid was demolished by these Karsevakas.
• The idol of Ramlala was established by making a small temple.

After the demolition of Babri masjid

• After the demolition of Babri masjid, there were massive riots in the country.
• Its biggest impact was seen in Bombay.
• This dispute went on for a long time and its effect was also seen in other countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Ayodhya dispute verdict

• The supreme court of India delivered the verdict on the Ayodhya dispute on 9 November 2019.
• 2.77 acres of disputed land was given for the construction of Ramlala’s temple
• 5 acres of main land given for the construction of the mosque

Anti-muslim riots in gujarat

• During February, march 2002, there was a large-scale violence against Muslims in Gujarat.
• At that time there was BJP government in Gujarat and Narendra Modi was the chief minister.

Why did this happen ?

• These riots started with an accident at Godhra station in Gujarat.
• A train of karsevakas was coming from Ayodhya at Godhra station in Gujarat.
• A sudden fire broke out in this train bogie in which about 57 karsevakas were killed.
• It was said that this bogie was set on fire by Muslims
• And due to this estimation, there were large scale riots in Gujarat against Muslims.
• Gujarat government was criticized by human rights commission and all intellectuals
• And these riots lasted for almost 1 month in Gujarat.

Shahbano case (1985)

• Shahbano was a 62 year old Muslim woman
• She was divorced by her husband and due to old age she was unable to make a living.
• In view of this situation, she filed an application in the court and sought alimony from her husband.
• The court upheld his demand and ruled in his favour.

Main controversy

• The antiquarian Muslims called this decision of the court, an interference in their personal law and opposed this decision.
• Under pressure from Muslim leaders, Rajiv Gandhi’s government passed the Muslim women act in 1986.
• Under this act, the court’s decision was overturned and Muslim law was upheld.
• All intellectuals, women’s organizations and Muslim women’s community opposed this decision of the government.
• The Bharatiya Janata Party openly opposed and criticized this decision of the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Mandal commission (1978)

• At the time of 1977, a big issue was the development of the backward classes, in view of this, the Mandal commission was constituted by the public.

• President

  • Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal

• Work

  • To describe the methods of identification and development of backward castes (reservation)

Mandal commission recommendations

• Within its recommendations, the Mandal commission recommended a reservation of 27% for other backward classes in educational institutions and government jobs.
• In 1990, the government of the national front made efforts to implement these recommendations.

Consequences of implementing the recommendation

• Large scale riots took place in the country
• This issue was taken to the supreme court and this case became famous as Indira Sawhney case.
• In the end, the supreme court also ruled in favour of reservation.
• The recommendations of the model commission have been implemented.

New economic policy (1991)

• The new economic policy was adopted by the government of Narasimha Rao in 1991.
• The main three aspects of the new economic policy were
  • Liberalization
    • Through liberalization, the government wanted to simplify the policies of doing business, so that trade within the country would increase and the pace of development would accelerate.
  • Privatization
    • Meaning of privatization – gradually handing over government companies to private hands so that their productivity and work efficiency can be increased
  • Globalization
    • Through globalization, the government made efforts to connect the Indian economy with the world economy, due to which the flow of goods and services in the country increased and the pace of development accelerated.

Beginning of the coalition era

• After 1991, it became difficult for any single party to get an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha elections in the country.
• Therefore, the era of coalition started in the country.

What is Alliance ?

Alliance is a situation in which two or more parties come together and form government because no party alone got majority.

The main two alliances formed in the country

• Congress                         –             UPA (United Progressive Alliance)
• BJP                                       –             NDA (National Democratic Alliance)

End of congress dominance

• Congress dominance ended after 1991
• Now regional parties started becoming important in national politics.
• It became difficult for any one party to get an absolute majority and the dominance of congress ended.

Rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

• Bharatiya Jana Sangh joined the Janata Party after the emergency.
• Janata party disintegrated due to poor political performance
• The leader who was earlier a supporter of Bharatiya Jana Sangh formed a new party in 1980 by the name of (BJP)

Lok Sabha elections

After the seventh general election

• As we have seen so far, Indira returned in the seventh general election and the congress got a majority.
• Exactly 4 years after this, In 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by one of her own bodyguards.
• After Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister and a few days later, in 1984, the Lok Sabha elections were held.

8th general election

• Rajiv Gandhi led the congress in the 1984 general elections
• It was one of the biggest victory of congress so far.
• Congress won 415 seats in this election
• Till date no other party could win so many seats in Indian politics.
• Rajiv Gandhi’s government completed its 5 year term

Ninth general election

• This time the story turned completely
• Congress, which won 415 seats in the last elections, could win only 197 seats in this election.

Cause 

• Shah Bano case (1985), Babri masjid
• This time the congress decided to sit in the opposition.
• After these elections, the government of the National Front was formed.
• The National Front was an alliance consisting Janata Dal (1977) and some other regional parties, later supported by the BJP and the Left Front.
• In this way the government of the National Front was formed

10th General Election

• The tenth general elections were held in 1991.
• In this, the congress government was formed and they got the support of AIDMK and some other parties.
• During this Narasimha Rao became the prime minister.

Important events

• New economic policy
• Babri masjid demolition

This government completed its term

11th General Election

• The 11th general election in India was held in 1996.
• The BJP government was formed in May 1996, but due to the minority, this government was fall down only in 13 days
• After that United Front government was formed with the support of congress
• HD Deve Gowda became prime minister
• This was followed by the 12th general election.

12th General Election

• 12th general elections were held in 1998
• In this BJP’s alliance NDA (National Democratic Alliance) won
• But being in the minority, the government soon fell.
• This government lasted for only 13 months and then the 13th general elections were held in the country.

13th General Election

• 13th general elections were held in 1999
• In this BJP’s alliance NDA (National Democratic Alliance) won
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the prime minister and this government completed its term

14th General Election

• The country’s 14th general elections were held in 2004.
• In the 2004 general election, the congress coalition UPA(United Progressive Alliance) got majority and Manmohan Singh became the prime minister

15th General Election

• The 15th general elections were held in the country in 2008.
• In this again the congress coalition UPA got majority and Manmohan Singh became the prime minister.

16th General Election

• In 2014, the 16th general elections were held in the country and this time BJP’s alliance NDA got majority and Narendra Modi became prime minister

17th General Election

The 17th general election in India was held in 2019, this time again the BJP’s alliance got a majority and Narendra Modi became the prime minister.

Consent

• In the midst of all this political turmoil, there were many issues on which the political party agreed with each other.
  • New economic policy
  • Development of backward groups in the society
  • Role of regional parties
  • Ideologically necessary task accomplishment

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