Unique Rajasthan Travel Guide
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About India
 
 

Recent Developments

 

These policies were put in place with surprisingly little political resistance. This was due perhaps to other major political issues commanding attention at the time, including Hindu nationalism. Faced with a militant movement with links to the BJP to demolish the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and build a Hindu temple there, the Rao government decided to accept the assurances of the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh that the shrine would be protected. But in December 1992 gangs of militant Hindu youths stormed the mosque and demolished it, sparking serious protests by Muslims, police firings, and then Hindu-Muslim riots, with a particularly terrible one in Mumbai; thousands lost their lives.

Militant Hindu nationalism had apparently peaked, however. In March 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai severely damaged the Bombay Stock Exchange and killed several hundred people, but the bombing did not spark riots, even though it was widely assumed that Muslim extremists were responsible. The BJP, whose governments in several north Indian states had been dismissed by the central government in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, faced united opposition in the elections of November 1993 and fared poorly. Although the party recovered enough to become the largest party in the national parliament after the 1996 elections, it did so after a campaign in which it did not emphasize Hindu nationalist demands.

In KashmÄ«r, radical Muslim factions continued to agitate for secession into the mid-1990s, despite the election of a new local government led by Farooq Abdullah, son of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. Violent separatist movements persisted in Assam and Punjab as well.

The 1996 elections ushered in a period of unrest in India and concern on the part of foreign investors. The Congress (I) lost its majority, forcing Rao to resign as prime minister. The central political issue had become the corruption of the most senior politicians. Amid allegations of corruption, Rao retained his parliamentary seat but resigned as party president. He was indicted for corruption in 1997, as were a number of his former cabinet colleagues. Members of other political parties—with the exception of the Communist parties—were also implicated in bribery and kickback scandals. With the continued investigative vigor of the press and a newly energized judicial system, the revulsion of most Indians against corruption became evident.

The BJP won the most seats in parliament in the 1996 elections but failed to win a majority. Still, with the invitation of the president, the BJP formed a government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After 13 days in parliament, Vajpayee resigned when it became clear that he would not pass a confidence vote by the parliament. The leftist coalition United Front, which had the second highest number of parliamentary seats, formed a government under Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda with the help of the Congress (I) Party and several smaller regional parties. Gowda’s government, however, had only been in power for nine months when the Congress (I) withdrew its support, demanding Gowda’s resignation. In order to avoid new elections, Gowda resigned and Inder Kumar Gujral, also of the United Front coalition, assumed the position of prime minister with support from Congress (I). Still, the Indian government remained shaky. In the fall of 1997, Gujral resigned when the Congress (I) once again pulled its support of the coalition, this time over differences relating to the investigation of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

In the March 1998 elections that followed, the BJP and its regional party allies won a majority of seats in parliament with 35 percent of the vote. A coalition government took office, led by Vajpayee of the BJP as prime minister. In May the new government made India into a “nuclear weapons state” by testing five nuclear devices in underground detonations. Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests, arousing fears of a regional nuclear arms race. A number of foreign governments declared sanctions against both countries to express disapproval of the tests.

Tensions eased somewhat in the months following the nuclear tests, as India and Pakistan both declared moratoriums on further testing and entered into negotiations sponsored by the United States. Some economic sanctions were lifted at these signs of progress. In early 1999, after months of talks, the leaders of India and Pakistan signed the Lahore Declaration, which expressed the two countries’ commitment to improve relations between them. However, fears of an arms race revived in April, when first India and then Pakistan tested medium-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Furthermore, in May KashmÄ«ri separatists widely believed to be backed by Pakistan seized Indian-controlled territory in the disputed region of KashmÄ«r. Fighting between Indian forces and the separatists raged until July, when Pakistan agreed to secure the withdrawal of the separatists, and India suspended its military campaign.

In April 1999 the BJP-led government lost its majority in parliament when a member of the coalition withdrew, and new elections were planned. Vajpayee resigned as prime minister but continued to serve as caretaker. In October elections, a 24-party coalition led by the BJP won a clear majority of seats in parliament. The coalition elected Vajpayee as its leader, and he was sworn in as prime minister for the third time.

In November 2000 the central government of India created three new states. The new states were carved out of three existing states—Uttaranchal from Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand from Bihār—to create smaller, more manageable administrative areas. The new states are populated by tribal groups that had waged decades-long campaigns for the creation of separate states in the interest of cultural autonomy and regional economic development.

A massive earthquake struck the western state of Gujarāt on January 26, 2001, as people were preparing to celebrate Republic Day, India’s independence holiday. The earthquake registered a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake killed about 20,000 people, injured more than 165,000, left more than 700,000 homeless, and reduced numerous towns and villages to rubble. The city of Bhuj, located 20 km (12 mi) from the quake’s epicenter, was one of the worst-hit urban areas.

Fighting between Indian forces and Muslim separatists in the disputed KashmÄ«r region escalated in late 2001 and continued in 2002. India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the militants and tacitly allowing them to infiltrate into Indian territory to carry out armed attacks against civilian targets. Pakistan denied the charges, claiming that it was taking strong measures to rein in the militants. Tensions continued to rise, however, as artillery fire frequently erupted along the line of control dividing the disputed territory. By mid-2002 India and Pakistan had amassed an estimated 1 million troops along their shared border, leading to concerns in the international community that the conflict in KashmÄ«r could escalate into full-fledged war between the two nuclear powers.