Exodus of Dalits and then Muslims before Congress- reasons...
Exodus of Dalits and then Muslims before Congress- reasons...
1. Dominance of upper caste leaders in power- In the 1980s, the congress returned strongly under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. After this, the dominance of upper caste leaders in power increased. For example, in bihar between 1980-90, the congress made 5 chief ministers, but not a single chief minister was a non-upper caste. Similarly, congress changed 5 Chief Ministers in UP from 1980-89, but here also no OBC, Dalit and Muslim were given a chair. The opposition succeeded in capitalizing on it. The result was that the congress lost its strong vote bank.
2. Emergence of regional parties in 1990- In the 1990s, regional parties started emerging rapidly in many states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar. By uniting the Dalits, Kanshi ram gave the first major blow to the congress in UP. The BSP was successful in breaking the Dalit vote in bihar, UP, madhya pradesh and punjab at that time.
Apart from BSP, many other small parties became active in the states of North India, whose politics was based on caste. Due to the rise of regional parties, the old equation of congress got destroyed. The Mandal Commission put the last nail in the congress equation. After this congress became irrelevant in the politics of UP and Bihar.
3. Role of Rao in Babri demolition- After Babri demolition, Muslims also fled from Congress. Lalu Yadav's party in bihar and Mulayam Singh's party in UP were successful in bringing Muslims into their fold. Experts say that the displeasure of the Muslim community was with PV narasimha Rao's government. His role was also questioned during the Babri demolition. However, Rao was sidelined after sonia gandhi entered politics.