Volume 37 Number {Supplement) Keesing's Record of Wol"rc lffim, ram Jakhar (Agriculture); S. B. Chavan (JKNC, Farooq Abduilah l.); - rcbcls [see p. 3785a]. Meanwhile the fertilizer subsidies rrn ,m o (Home Affain); M. L. Fotcdar (Health J harkhand N{ukti l\'lorcha; Nlanipur Ayodhya issue continued to cause defence tpending. The bx"- ,q and Family Wclfarc); Chulam Bani People's Party; Nagalarrd People's scrious unrest during lare 1990, with have been introduceC ry Azad (Parliarnentary Affairs); C. K. Council; Shironrani Akali Dal (Sin- closc to a thousand pcople being killed Shekhar's govenune{xt !r Jaffer Sharief (Railways); Sheila Kaul ranjit Singh Mann prcs.); Sikkinr in communal violence across the but had been pmtpoffic nG tn' (Urban Development); Sitarcm Kesri Sangranr Parishad; Telegu f)esanr courltry. The situation calmed in l99l gress (I) pressue [for **{r (Welfare); K. Vijaya Bhaskara Rcddy (TD, Nandmuri Tarak Rarna Rao prcs., ius Moslcrns and Hindus cntcred into talotto *gasrues and rhr (Law,, Justicc and Company Affain); P. Upendra gcn. sec.). discussion. 38337; for 1990 hd€tj Madhav Rao Scindia (Civil Aviation Elections Chandra Shekhar's efforts at keeping the Singh goverruneot i@. mdl and Tourisrn); B. Shankaranand (Pe- pp. his rninority govemment at'loat ended see 37315-161. troleum and Natural Gas); V. C. Shukla Elections to the Lo,t Sablra wcrc held in March 1991. He resigncd, no longer Foreign relationr (Water Resourccs). in May and June l99l [scc pp. 38175- 76;38286-881. willing to meet the political price de- Extemal relaliom rrere l9.rolgl Cabinet changes mlndcd by Congress (l) for its par- increasing tensioo *ith lianrcntary support [see p. 38101]. A In January 1990 Primc Minister V. P. .lggotgl ovERVtEw Kashmir [see belox; p. Singh madc sonrc low-lcvcl appoint- gcncral clection was called for May p. 386311. Relaricns *til V. P. Singh's minority Janata Dal gov- and Chandra Shekhar was askcd to stay ments to the Council of Ministers proved greatly during n. [see cmment collapscd in Novcrnbcr 1990, p. 371461, and canied out thc first on as carctaker Prime Minister. Voting bruary 1991 the lnd.urn only I I nronths aftcr coming to powcr. major expansion of his Ministry in late in thc clections started in mid-May but Affairs Minister V. C $!rd& Singh. who hld c'irtcrcd oilicc prorni- wus postponcd after thc ilssassinalion April [see p. 37378]. In Augr.rst Devi Beijing. The two sdcs qnsd sing a retum to valuc-bascd politics, Rajiv Candhi Lal, the powcrful Deputy Prime Min- of by Tamil separatists sume border trade *fiirit' fu dcparted with the country in a statc of whilc ister and Ministcr of Agriculture, was addressing a rally in Tamil Nadu offsince the 1962 rrnprccedcnted social, cconomic and p. 38175]. Voting resumed in Jure dismissed fronr the Cabinet [see p. [see p. 380061; joint *'orkirg political tunnoil. Singh was rcplaccd and Congrcss (l) ernergcd as the 376531. Maneka Gandhi resigned as victor border issue nret in Nrn by his arch-rival, Chandra Shckhar, pp. Minister of State for Environment and [sce 38286-88]. The victory was far gust 1990 and in Ber.|ng e, who had spcnt the whole of 1 990 court- fronr a resounding one, however, Forcsts in Octobcr lsee p. 3777741. and ing anti-Singh collcagucs within thc owcd much "sympathy vote" Toshiki Kaifu, th€a Pr@ Singh was rcplaced a^s Prime Minister to the Janatu Dal. Chandra Shckhar rnan- Japan, visited lndia in hc on Nov. l0 by Clrandra Shckhar whosc arorscd by Candhi's untimely death. agcd to sccure "outsidc" Corrgrcss (l) (l) Kaifu reportedly adr-hcd Council of Ministcn was sworn in on Congrcss and irs allics gained only support tbr his small band of disside nt cnough scats to fonn a minority gov- need to liberalize tbr Nov.2l [scc pp. 37854-551. Fivc min- Janata Dalrncntbcr.s, but from thc out- party isters resigncd frorn the Chandra Shek- cmmcnt; the pcrfonncd particu- ln Novcmber lndia 199t sct his govcnlmcnt was wcak and bc- har government in February l99l larly badly in its traditional northem a non-perrnanent memk lf holdcn to its patron. "Hindi following their disqualification from belt" heartlands, where the BJP Security Council for lWi. mernbemhip of tlte Lok Sabfta rurdcr Thc fall of thc Singh govcmrncnt was madc a major impact, evcntually crncrging as the main opposition party .STATES the anti-defcction laws [scc pp. 38005- ultirnirtcly brouglrr uboul by its rc- gaining 061. The new Prime Ministcr, P. V. sponsc to the long-nurning "tcmplc- and ovcr one-fifth of the total seats. Narasimlra Rao, was swom in and his mosquc" disputc at Ayodhya in Uttar Following thc victory Congress Northern rilrltf (l) lcadcrs sct Council ol Ministcrs appointed on Pradcsh [scc bclow]. Howcvcr, prcss- about choosing a Prirne Ministcr. The Haryana June 21, l99l p. 38288]. The Min- rre on the govemnlcnt had incrcased contcst for Prime Minis- [see A by-election in H"lr_rmlr ister of State for Labour (indepcndcnt markcdly sincc his irttroduciion of a tcr within Congrcss (l) was between constituency in Felruq. charge), K. Ramamurlhy, resigncd in controvcnial job rcscrvations policy in Narasimha Rao, who had replaced voked a crisis *'hich August p. 376531. Thc policy, Gandhi as party presidcnt after his late July [see p. 38337]. fscc V. Sinsr which aimed to reservc 27 pcr ccnt of widow Sonia Gandhi had refined the mined P. r govemment and dE-[arullB Ruling party public-scctor jobs for mcrnbcm of the post, and the Chief Ministcr of Maha- 373151. The electim-,r Congress (l) (P. V. Narasimha Rao, lowcr castcs, provokcd castc-bascd vi- rashtra, Sharad Pawar. Rao won the rupt was cs'm:rnd pres., Balram Jakhar, H. K. L. Bhagat, olcncc across nonhcm India (although contcst and persuadcd Pawar to enter affair, Janata Dalby Orn Pnium. Rajendra Kurnari Bajpai, Janardhan it rcccived a largc nrcasurc of support his ncw Cabinct irs Dcfence Minister. the state's conFoversrnr Poojari, Ghularn Nabi Azad, Vithal in the prcdorninantly low-castc south) Tlrc ncw govcmmcnt won a votc of ter. Chauthala n*i rr Narwal Gadgil gcn. sccs. and providcd an issuc around which confidcncc in thc to& SaDlra in mid- the Haryana state Singh's opponents within thc Janata July [scc p. 38337]. a[@ii! parties his post as Chief Other Dal could coalcsce. lt also providcd an Economy he had inherited tu iqrut, Bharatiya Janata Parly (BJP, Murli opportunity for Devi Lal, whorn Singh father, the powerfu.l D-{+r'!1r Manohar Joshi prcs.); Janata Dal (JD, had dismisscd trs his dcputy in August, lndia's cconomy faltercd during 1990, Minister, Devi I ql.ln S. R. Bommai pres.); Comnrunist to rully opposition to thc govcmncnt and with the impact of thc Gulf war the was countermanded- hu Party of lndia (Marxist) (CPI(M), pp. 37710-l t; 3777 4-751. sitLration worsencd considcrably dur- [scc flected badlv on tbe Jyoti Basu, M. Basavapururaiah, - ing thc fint half of 1991. When Na- In Septembcr supportcrs of thc radical the Jnnata !al. Clr* rrtiqir Harkishan Singh Surjcet ls., E. M. San- rasimha Rao's Congress (I) Vishwa Hindi PurisJzdhad launchcd a karan Namboodiripad gen. sec.); govcrnrncnt came to office in mid- resigned as Chief \{;mr'm march to Ayodhya to bcgirr constnrc- his replacement, Bmmer Conrnrunist Party of lndia (CPI, In- l99l it was faced with a US$70,000 tiorr of a Hindu tcnrplc on thc grounds was a close assaiaar so drajit Gupta gcn. scc.); Sanrajwadi rrillion foreign dcbt burdcn and a long- of thc disuscd Moslcrn mosquc thcrc. Janata Party (SJP, Devi Lal gcn. slurrding forcigrr-cxchange crisis clan remained in cccna'ir .tf Thc BJP lcadcr, L. K. Advani, had also p. 37452]. I-a i,ur', scc.); Shiv Sena; Revolutionary So- which had continucd dcspite receipt of lsee cmbarkcd on llrc rnarclt and his arrcst ,A'heo cialist Party; Forward Bkrc; lndian a substantial IMF package in January erupted again in latc Octobcr provokcd his pany to appointed as Chief ldrnnm Union l\'loslenr League. [scc p. 38006]. withdraw its support from Singh's 376101. Believirg nrn r Thc nrain rcgionully bascd partics in- govcnrmcnt lscc p. 3777 41. Thc with- Thc Rao govcmmcnt rnovcd swiftly to been struek bet$ea {mrl# cludc: All-lndia Anna Dravida drawal of BJP support intcrlsifrcd divi- try and tacklc thc cconomic crisis. The number of Union xilrorurts Munnetra Kazhaganr (AIADMK, sions within the Junuta Dal, which nlcasurcs includcd the dcvaluation cif rari ly resi gned, prof," 1n@t Jayalalitha Jayaram l.); Asonr Gana quickly split into two factions. ln carly the nrpcc and thc raising of intcrcst self to offer his resipamcn Parishad (ACP, Prafulla Kumar Novcrnber Singh's bclcagucrcd gov- ratcs, and the introduction of radical Chauthala resigned rs Mahanta I.; )Dravida Munnetra cnrmenl lost a votc of contidcrrcc in thc and far-reaching rcfonn packages for in mid-July, to be re,flurld Kahzagam (DMK, Muthuvel Kanrna- Lok Subhu. Congrcss (l) wcrc invitcd Iradc and industry. At thc same time Singh, and Devi I-^a,I nidhi pres., Nanjil K. Manogaran gcn. to form a ncw govemmcnt, but its tlic ncw Finance Ministcr, Manmohan puty Prime Minisrer m sec.); Haryana Vikas Party; Janrnru lcadcr, Rajiv Candhi rcfuscd, offcring Singh, introduccd his first budget 376531. However. rr and Kashnrir National Conference instcad to suppon Chandftr Shckhar's which raised corpoftrtc taxes, and cut Chauthala was om 386t4 Keesing's Record of World Events Volume 37 Number I I (Supplementl Haryana war. Although after the talk there were dra Shekhar met for talks with Simran- President's rule was extended for six reports skirmishing jit Singh Mann, leader one months pp.