Global Journal of Management and Business Research, B: Economics and Commerce, Volume 22 Issue 4

1967 and 1971. It was like a one-party dominant system (Booroah, 2006). The Congress government under Nehru was the need of the hour for an India that had been totally messed up by British misrule (Rai and Kumar, 2017). The general election in 1971 was contested by Indira Gandhi on the slogan “GaribiHatao” and her pro- poor posturing created an electoral wave in her favour. The elections sorted out the leadership issue once and for all with Indira Gandhi acquiring a larger than life image equated with the Indian goddess Durga and starting a new chapter that became known as the personality cult in Indian politics (Rai and Kumar, 2017). The second tier leadership in the party and voice for constructive criticisms was destroyed as she replaced state leaders with people who had no political base and were completely loyal to her. The electorates had no way of communicating with the Congress leadership like it previously could. Due to this, the Congress party lost many bye-elections subsequently. There was high inflation due to Pakistan war and 1973 oil crisis, led to decline in faith of people on the Congress party. Her falling popularity and Allahabad High Court ruling on electoral malpractices led to the declaration of emergency in 1975. She circumvented the parliament and ruled the country by imposing her dictatorship by sacrificing parliament and democratic rights of the people (Rai and Kumar, 2017). The Congress Party was overthrown in general elections, 1977 by unification of opposition parties as the Janata Party. Just before 1977 elections, four national parties, viz. Indian National Congress (O), Bhartiya Lok Dal, Bhartiya Jan Sangh and the Socialist Party, merged formally to form Janata Party (Salvi, 2005). The Janata Party came to power from 1977-1979. By July, 1979, Janata Party split into two – one led by Chandrashekhar (JP) and other led by Charan Singh (JP(S)). JP(S) soon became Lok Dal (Chander, 2004, Salvi, 2005). After a brief period out of power, following the 1977 elections; the Congress stormed back winning the next two elections (1980 and 1984) handsomely (Chander, 2004; Booroah, 2006). After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Congress party won 1984 elections under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi with 415 seats mainly due to the sympathy wave. The party lost its political presence and single party dominance in the 1989 General elections due to Bofors scam. The BJP won a considerable number of seats in 1989 elections only to form a coalition with the Janata Dal (JD) led National Front (Chander, 2004; Salvi, 2005; Rai and Kumar, 2017). The decade of 1990s was a turmoil in Indian politics due to frequent elections and weak coalitions at the Centre as regional parties came, gained importance and raised to power. In 1991, Congress came back to power and remained the largest political party till 1996. However, the BJP attained the status of the second-largest party in the 1991 elections. In the 1996 elections, the Congress, emerged as the single-largest party but short of majority. Therefore, it chose to sit on the opposition benches. The minority government which was a coalition of 13 parties came to power under the leadership of H. D. DeveGowda. The Congress gave outside support to this government. Congress pulled out its support due to Rajiv Gandhi assassination issue. Thus in 1996, the Congress party was the supporter of the minority government being on the opposition bench (Chander, 2004). Mid–term elections were called for in the 1998, when BJP led coalition government was formed under the leadership of A. B. Vajpayee. However, AIADMK chief Jayalalitha pulled out due to a minor issue for a minister and the Vajpayee government lost confidence motion by just one vote (Chander, 2004). Once again, elections were called in 1999. The BJP emerged as a dominant party, however, was way short of majority. The coalition government was formed with 24 parties forming an alliance. This government survived its five year term (Chander, 2004). Congress was again able to form a government after the 2004 elections in coalition with other parties and supported, by the communists, from outside government. The UPA II government was inundated by numerous scams, high inflation and unemployment rates and the policy paralysis that hit the country in the last two years of its regime by middle of 2009 (Chander, 2004; Salvi, 2005; Sridharan, 2005; Booroah, 2006). The Congress was wiped out in the general election in 2014. The BJP came to power with comfortable majority. The BJP received support from regional parties like Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, and other smaller parties. The alliance of these parties is called as National Democratic Alliance (NDA); whereas, in the opposition, there were Congress, BahujanSamajwadi Party, Communist Party of India, Nationalist Congress Party, All India Trinamool Congress and many other smaller parties (Rai and Kumar, 2017). The coalition era has created a pattern of tide. Relative centralization of power at first, followed by a steady erosion of power as the results of the state elections (held almost every two years) alters the composition of parliamentary majority for the ruling coalition (Chadda, 2002). e) State Assembly Elections The regional parties in India play a very important role in the state as well as central politics. This is due to three major reasons. First, it was the decline of the Congress party as the dominant party in terms of its How Political Stability Affects Economic Growth in India 22 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue IV Version I Year 2022 ( ) B © 2022 Global Journals