Demise of Congress
In the meantime, power devolved to P.V. Narasimha Rao, a Congress party stalwart from South India. It was a classic compromise, but Rao’s staying power was underestimated. Rao made the rupee convertible and allowed foreigners to control 51 percent of their joint ventures. Import tariffs were cut and foreigners were allowed to buy and sell shares on India’s 20 stock exchanges. But the old demons would not easily disappear. The fight for independence in Kashmir rumbled on, with stories of appalling atrocities. In 1992 tens of thousands of Hindu zealots used their bare hands to tear down a mosque in Ayodhya.
The political kaleidoscope of India is forever changing, creating unlikely patterns and alliances. Parties with a wide constituency include the Congress (Indira), which still plays on the Nehru legacy; the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hindu nationalists; the Left Front, a coalition of parties, including the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist); and the Samajwadi Party, representing the low-castes and Muslims. Regional parties include the Sikh activists, Akali Dal; two Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, the aiadmk and their rivals, DMK; the Telugu Desam Party from Andhra Pradesh; and the Hindu and Maratha extremist Shiv Sena based in Mumbai.
Mumbai was rocked by a dozen bombs in a single day in March 1993. Terrified Muslims fled the city and gangsters appropriated valuable downtown land. The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) triumphed in the next state elections. Bal Thackeray, sinister leader of the Hindu chauvinist Shiv Sena (Shiva’s army), called for state borders to be closed to all non-residents.
Under Rao, Congress lost considerable support. Reports of a cash-crammed suitcase left as a blatant bribe, and profiteering from import scams, surfaced in the newspapers. Economic liberalization measures were criticized for lining the pockets of the rich while doing little to help the poor.
