In the second Congress-led UPA term, how pro-public policies gave way to corruption allegations

Some important developments before the polls

Parliament proceedings before the 2009 polls were highly disrupted. In fact, the Lok Sabha only had 46 sittings in 2008, the lowest since Independence. In the 2008 Assembly polls, the Congress managed to retain power in Delhi and Rajasthan, but the BJP returned in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, besides winning Karnataka. Then, as the world watched on its television screens in horror on November 26, 2008, 10 members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out a planned terror strike across Mumbai for nearly four days.

Meanwhile, a controversy cropped up in the Election Commission (EC) just before the 2009 general elections. N Gopalaswami, who was appointed as Election Commissioner in February 2004 and elevated as the Chief Election Commission in 2006, was due to retire on April 20, 2009. Though he wanted at least one phase of the 2009 polls to be held while he was still around, Gopalaswami’s successor Navin Chawla was against this.

In a controversial move, in January 2009, Goapalaswami recommended that the President should sack Chawla on grounds of being “partisan”. However, his recommendation was rejected by both Patil and later the Supreme Court. But Gopalaswami had his way in the end. The five-phase 2009 election was held between April 16 and May 13.

Results and impact of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections

Since the report of the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Kuldeep Singh, was implemented before this election, the polls were held based on delimited constituencies and boundaries. This resulted in changes in the composition of voters from nearly 500 constituencies. Of 71.69 crore voters, 41.71 crore or 58.21% voted at 8.30 lakh polling stations across India. A total of 8,070 candidates were in the fray, including 556 women candidates.

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The Congress performed better this time — 206 seats against the 145 it got in 2004 — but the BJP’s share dipped from 138 in 2004 to 116 seats this time. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 21 seats, Communist Party of India (Marxist) 16, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nine and CPI four in this election.

Among the biggest losers in 2009 was UPA’s alliance partner, the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The party won just four seats, with Lalu himself losing from one of the two seats he contested from. He lost from Bihar’s Patliputra seat but won from Saran, defeating BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Yet another UPA ally, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) also suffered setbacks. Paswan lost on his home turf in Bihar’s Hajipur to Janata Dal United’s (JD-U) Ram Sundar Das. The LJP lost all 12 seats that it contested from.

The maximum candidates — 41 each — were in the fray from both Delhi’s Chandni Chowk and Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. These seats were won by Congress’s Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk) and BJP’s Lalji Tandon (Lucknow). In Uttar Pradesh, Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) decided to ally with the BJP. They won five of the seven seats the RLD contested, including Ajit Singh from Baghpat. BJP chief Rajnath Singh won his first Lok Sabha poll from Ghaziabad.

Just as Rahul had entered the Lok Sabha in 2004, his cousin Varun Gandhi, who hit headlines for his hate speech before the elections, reached the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2009 from Pilibhit on a BJP ticket.

Gandhis’ grip on Congress tightens

In 2009, Sonia and Rahul maintained a tight grip over the UPA election campaign, including sidelining RJD and LJP in Bihar. Meanwhile, the BJP campaign took potshots at Manmohan Singh, who was Prime Minister since 2004, calling him a “weak” PM. The BJP sought votes for its National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by Advani, by trying to sell the promise of a “decisive” government.

Despite this, the UPA returned to power. The one poll promise that really helped the Congress-led alliance to make a comeback was farm loan waivers. Though a 77-year-old Manmohan took oath as Prime Minister once again on May 22, 2009, the common perception was that he would be relieved of his charge before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to make way for Rahul. Nevertheless, Manmohan would remain the Prime Minister till 2014.

Infighting in the BJP

Declining health forced Vajpayee to hang up his political hat in 2009, but Advani, then 81, was still raring to go. Advani, who had served as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in the Vajpayee government, was the BJP’s prime ministerial face for over a year before the 2009 polls.

As the reorganised NDA, led by socialist Sharad Yadav as its convenor, was preparing for the 2009 polls, Shekhawat dropped a bomb. In January 2009, the former Vice-President declared that he would contest the Lok Sabha polls as Advani’s challenger for the post. Vajpayee, Advani and Shekhawat were the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the BJP’s original avatar, in 1952.

Shekhawat’s actions led to then BJP chief Rajnath Singh to remark, “Jisne Ganga snan kar liya ho, use kuen par nahaane ki ichha nahin karni chahiye (One who has already scaled great heights should not have such small dreams).”

Unfazed by Rajnath’s criticism, Shekhawat retorted, “Main BJP me tab se hoon jab Rajnath Singh paida bhi nahi huye the. Maine Ganga snan bhale kar lia ho, lekin kuen par bhi nahaya hoon. (I have been with the BJP since before Rajnath Singh was born. I may have scaled great heights, but I have also had small dreams).”

Despite putting its 100% into the campaign, the BJP failed to return to power. Adding to its problems was stalwart politician Jaswant Singh, who was from Rajasthan and among Vajpayee’s confidants. He was sacked by Rajnath in August 2009, during a party meeting in Shimla. Just before the meeting, Jaswant had released a book praising Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Years of turmoil and anti-corruption tirade

While UPA’s first term was full of several pro-people policies and programmes — the Right to Information (RTI) Act, implemented by UPA-I in 2005, had given ordinary citizens the power to ask those in power tough questions — but the second term was full of turmoil. Conflict and confusion in the government was visible repeatedly, even as it was India’s turn to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG).

It had become commonplace to read about scandals in newspapers. These scandals included the 2010 Adarsh Housing Scam, the 2010 CWG scandal, 2009 2G Spectrum scandal, 2012 coal scam, etc. In fact, A Raja, a minister in UPA from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), was forced to resign over corruption allegations.

Around this time, anti-corruption activists including former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal (future Delhi Chief Minister) and yoga guru Baba Ramdev launched a campaign to force the government to enact a Jan Lokpal Bill to deal with corruption cases at the top. Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan became a protest site at frequent intervals. Though these activists would eventually drift away, the issue of corruption hit a nerve with the public.

Supporters of Anna Hazare at the Ramleela Ground in New Delhi in 2011. (Express archives)

Kejriwal, an IRS official-turned-RTI activist, and Ramdev started eyeing the launch of new political outfits. While Ramdev became close to the BJP, Kejriwal formed his own party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in 2012. Though he made many “impractical” promises — “I will not take official cars and government accommodation after becoming Chief Minister” — in order to attract the middle classes, the AAP won in Delhi.

Some of Kejriwal’s associates ended up either joining the BJP — like Minister of State General V K Singh (retired), who was fielded from Ghaziabad in 2014 and 2019 — or maintaining close ties with the party — Kiran Bedi was appointed as the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry.

Kejriwal is currently facing corruption charges — the very same cause that launched the AAP into the Indian political space. His political gains between 2010 and 2012 affected the UPA government, but benefited both the BJP and the AAP. In 2010, in a huge setback to the transparency regime, the Manmohan Singh government decided to keep the CBI outside the purview of the RTI Act.

In power for 10 years, the party erodes

Two consecutive tenures are not easy for any party. In UP and Bihar, the Congress failed to secure a comeback. Though the 10-year government produced many leaders who enjoyed ministerships and governorships, no effort was made to spread the party’s organisational bases, making the Congress weaker with each passing year. It continues to be a party that is visible only if there is a government. In the meantime, Pranab Mukherjee, the Finance Minister in the Congress-led government, was elected as President in July 2012.

Reeling from allegations of saffron terrorism, the Sangh Parivar and a brand new BJP was determined to win the 2014 elections. To fulfil its promise to fight corruption, the UPA brought the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill in Parliament and it was passed in December 2013. It also later brought a Bill to create India’s 29th state, Telangana, carved out of Andhra Pradesh. On March 5, 2014, the next Lok Sabha elections were announced.