Chapter 9 - Recent Developments in Indian Politics

In this chapter, you’ll study the recent developments in Indian politics. India saw a very dynamic political scenario during the 1990s, when the popularity of Congress began to decline and the concept of alliance parties came into the picture. Gradually, even backwards classes like ST, SC and OBCs gained power and tried to exercise their rights politically as well as socially. You’ll also learn about the famous ‘Mandal Commission’ and political fallouts. You’ll come across the Ayodhya dispute over Babri Masjid followed by its abolition leading to severe conflicts between Hindus and Muslims.

Thus, an in-depth study of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 9 will give you a good understanding of Recent Developments in Indian Politics.

Let’s take a look at topics and sub-topics of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 9 – Recent Developments in Indian Politics

• Context of the 1990s

• Era of Coalitions

• Decline of Congress

• Alliance Politics

• Political rise of other backward classes

• ‘Mandal’ implemented

• Political fallouts

• Communalism, Secularism, Democracy

• Ayodhya Dispute

• Demolition and after

• Gujarat Riots

• Emergence of a new consensus

• Lok Sabha Elections, 2004

• Growing consensus

In Class 12 Political Science Chapter 9, you will learn – 

Context of the 1990s – In this section, you will study about the five major developments taken place in Indian politics in 1990s such as defeat of Congress party in 1989, rise of the ‘Mandal’ issue in national economic policies of government headed by Rajiv Gandhi, demolition of the disputed structure of Babri Masjid, rise of BJP and Hindutva, and finally, assassination of Rajiv Gandhi during the election campaign of 1991.

Era of Coalitions – In this section, you’ll learn about the era of coalitions between various political parties, defeat of congress leading to the end of ‘Congress dominance’ in Indian democracy, era of multi-party system, lack of majority of any of the parties leading to the era of coalition governments, era of alliance politics, finally BJP coming into power by leading a coalition government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Political rise of other backward classes – In this section, you’ll study about the political rise of OBCs – Other Backward Classes and communities other than ST and SC, implementation of the ‘Mandal Commission’ to encourage the political power of OBCs and more.

Communalism, Secularism, Democracy – In this section, you’ll study about rise of politics based on religious identity, formation of Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980, increasing popularity of the concept of ‘Hindutva’ led by BJP, the continuation of the Babri Masjid dispute over several decades, demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992, and infamous Gujarat riots of 2002.

Emergence of a new consensus – In this section, you’ll learn that the period after 1989 saw the decline of the Congress party and rise in popularity of the BJP, Lok Sabha elections of 2004, agreement on new economic policies, acceptance of social and political aspirations of the other backward classes, realizing the importance of state-level parties in governance, and more.

In this chapter, you are provided with several maps, images and quotes given by famous leaders to have a clear understanding about Recent Developments in Indian Politics. To know more about Political Science Chapter 9 you should explore the exercises mentioned in this chapter. You can also download the Recent Developments in Indian Politics PDF, solved by our experts.