Class XII – Indian Politics – Trends & Development -PYQs

Ans. There were a lot of changes that took place towards the end of 1980’s in the political field. These were:

• The Congress won only 197 seats in the 1989 elections. It decided to sit in the opposition even after being a majority party.
• The National Front, which was an alliance of the Janta Dal and some regional parties formed a coalition government with the support of BJP and the Left Front. Thus, the era of multi-party system began in India.
• From 1989-2014, no single party could secure a clear majority in any Lok Sabha elections.
• The Mandal issue started with the National Front government’s decision to implement the recommendation of Mandal Commission in 1990.

This issue played a major role in shaping the Indian Politics.

Ans. The dispute between the supporters and opponents of OBC reservations was known as the Mandal issue. It followed the decisions of the National Front Government in 1990 to implement the recommendation of the Mandal Commission, that jobs should be reserved for the OBC’s. This Commission, headed by Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, was set up in 1978 to investigate the extent of educational and social backwardness among various sections of society and recommend ways to identify these classes.

Two major recommendations of the Mandal Commission were:

1) It recommend reserving 27% of seats in the educational institutions and govt. jobs for backward classes. It also made many other recommendations like land reforms, to improve the conditions of OBCs.

2) Financing of Welfare Programmes specially meant for the OBC’s by the Govt. of India.

Ans. Two developments witnessed by India after 1990 were

(i) End of Congress System: Congress party was defeated in the 1989 elections. It could only get 197 seats as compared to 415 in 1984. So the elections of 1989 marked the end of ‘Congress System’.

(ii) New Economic Reforms: Initiated by Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, they changed the direction of the Indian economy that was pursued since Independence. Additional sectors that were reserved for public investment were opened for private investment. These reforms were widely criticised by various movements and organisations.

Ans. After the decline of Congress’s support to the backward castes, a space for non-congress parties to get the support of OBC’s was created.

Many parties like the Bhartiya Kranti Dal and Samyukta Socialist Party which were a part of the Janta Party had a powerful rural base among some sections of the OBC.

In the 1980’s, the decision of the National Front Govt. to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission further helped in shaping the politics of the OBC’s.

1980’s saw the emergence of many parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that sought better opportunities for OBC’s in education, employment, adequate representation in administration etc.

Ans. (i) After Emergency, Bhartiya Jana Sangh had merged into the Janta Party. After the fall of Janta Party and its break up, the supporters of erstwhile Jana Sangh formed the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)

(ii) BJP adopted a broader political platform than Jan Sangh and adopted ‘Gandhian Sociology’ as its ideology. However, it could not get much success in the 1980 & 1984 elections.

(iii) BJP began pursuing the ‘Hindutva’ ideology and adopted a strategy of mobilising the Hindus after 1986.

(iv) In 1996, a BJP minority govt. was formed for a short period, but it collapsed as it could not get the support in the vote of confidence.

(v) From March 1998 – October 1999, BJP and others formed NDA (National Democratic Alliance) under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his govt. formed in 1999 (NDA-II) completed its full term.

(vi) Again in 2014 (NDA-III) & 2019 (NDA-IV) elections, BJP under the leadership of PM Modi came to power with a landslide victory in both centre and states.

Ans. Despite their conflicts and disagreements, all political parties over the following elements:

(i) Agreement on new economic policies: While many groups oppose the new economic policies, most political parties support them. They believe that these policies will lead the country to prosperity and a status of economic power in the world.

(ii) Acceptance of the political and social claims of the backward castes: Political parties have recognised that these claims need to be accepted. As a result, they now support reservations of seats for the “backward classes” in education and employment.

(iii) Acceptance of the role of State level parties in governance of the country: Distinctions between State and National parties is becoming less important. State level parties are sharing power at the national level ad have played an important role in the country’s politics of last 20 years or so.

(iv) Emphasis on pragmatic considerations rather than ideological positions and political alliances without ideological agreement. Coalition parties has shifted the focus of political parties from ideological differences to power sharing arrangements.

Ans. Two important challenges faced by Indian Politics during the 1990’s were:

1) Mandal issue: It was one of the most prominent challenges faced by Indian politics during the 1990’s. The new National Front govt. in 1990 implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. It held that the jobs in Central govt. should be reserved for the OBC’s. This caused violent anti-Mandal protests in different parts of the country. The dispute was evident among the supporters and opponents of OBC reservations which came to be known as Mandal Issue.

2) Ayodhya dispute – This dispute arose due to the demolitions of Babri Masjid and rise of Hindutva Politics. A number of events resulted in the demolition of a disputed structure known as Babri Masjid in Dec 1992. This event brought various changes in the politics of the country and intensified and secularism. These led to the rise of BJP and politics of Hindutva.

Ans. Coalition govt. is a boon because:

(i) Participation of Regional Parties at National Level – State level parties played a crucial role in the country politics for last twenty years. Therefore, the differences between state level parties and central parties is decreasing day by day.

(ii) Spirit of adaptation – Coalition politics has shifted the focus of political parties from ideological distinctions to power sharing accommodations. In BJP’s case, even though most parties did not agree with the Hindutva ideology, still they allied with BJP to form a govt. for a full term.

(iii) Inclined towards one Consensus – Various radical parties opposed the new economic policies, but some came to support them because they believed that these policies would lead to the country towards prosperity & raise its states all over the world.

Coalition govt. is a bane because:

(i) Unstable govt. – The coalition gov. has its own interest and they fight for their own self-interest. This leads to the breakup not only of various fronts but of governments as well.

(ii) Political opportunities – Govt. formed on the basis of coalition becomes selfish as opportunist power and unscrupulous politicians emphasise on their self-interest only.

(iii) Polarisation – The coalition governments are formed on the basis of polarisation of political forces. These are widely heterogeneous elements like CPI and BJP.

Ans. It is a fact that the contemporary party system is equated with the term ‘BJP system’ by the Social Scientists. The factors responsible for it are:

1) The Bhartiya Janta Party led by PM Narendra Modi got an absolute majority in the L.S. elections held in May 2014 and nearly after 30 years in the Indian Politics, a strong govt. with an absolute majority was established at the centre.

2) The BJP led coalition NDA – III of 2014 was largely different from its predecessor coalition governments. The previous coalition was led by one of the national parties, the NDA – III coalition was not only steered by the National Party i.e., BJP rather it was also dominated by BJP with an absolute majority of its own in L.S. It was also called a surplus majority coalition.

3) In this sense, a major transformation could see in the nature of coalition politics from one party led coalition to one party dominated coalition.

4) 2019 Lok Sabha elections once again brought back BJP led NDA (NDA-IV) to the centre by winning more than 350 seats out of 543. The BJP on its own won 303 seats in the Lok Sabha, the biggest number by any single party since 1984 when Congress swept the elections in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassinations.