Singh held office for slightly less than a year, from 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990. After state legislative elections in March 1990, Singh's governing coalition achieved control of both houses of India's parliament. During this time, Janata Dal came to power in five Indian states under
Om Prakash Chautala (
Banarsi Das Gupta,
Hukam Singh),
Chimanbhai Patel,
Biju Patnaik,
Lalu Prasad Yadav, and
Mulayam Singh Yadav, and the National Front constituents in two more
NT Rama Rao, and
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. The Janata Dal also shared power in West Bengal under
Jyoti Basu, in
Kerala under
EK Nayanar and in
Rajasthan under
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party government from outside) and already incumbent
M. Karunanidhi government in
Tamil Nadu from January 1989. Singh decided to end the Indian army's unsuccessful operation in
Sri Lanka which
Rajiv Gandhi, his predecessor, had sent to combat the Tamil separatist movement. He was second chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to occupy the post after Charan Singh. In
Punjab, Singh replaced the hard-line
Siddhartha Shankar Ray as Governor with another former bureaucrat,
Nirmal Kumar Mukarji, who moved forward on a timetable for fresh elections. Singh himself made a much-publicised visit to the
Golden Temple to ask forgiveness for
Operation Blue Star and the combination of events caused the long rebellion in Punjab to die down markedly in a few months. He also thwarted the efforts of Pakistan under
Benazir Bhutto to start a border war with India.
Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus V. P. Singh faced his first crisis within few days of taking office, when Kashmiri militants kidnapped the daughter of his Home Minister,
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (later Chief Minister of
Jammu and Kashmir). His government agreed to the demand for releasing militants in exchange; partly to end the storm of criticism that followed, he shortly thereafter appointed
Jagmohan Malhotra, a former bureaucrat, as Governor of
Jammu and Kashmir. Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2016.
62 Amendment of 1989 and SC-ST Act In the year 1989, the government by Singh implemented the
SC-ST Act of 1989 to prevent the atrocities against the members of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It was enacted when the provisions of the existing laws (such as the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and Indian Penal Code) were found to be inadequate to check these crimes (defined as 'atrocities' in the Act). Recognising the continuing gross indignities and offences against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the Parliament passed the '
Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The objectives of the Act clearly emphasised the intention of the government to deliver justice to these communities through proactive efforts to enable them to live in society with dignity and self-esteem and without fear or violence or suppression from the dominant castes. The practice of
untouchability, in its overt and covert form was made a cognizable and non-compoundable offence, and strict punishment is provided for any such offence. The act was finally passed somehow with controversies.
Mandal Commission report Singh himself wished to move forward nationally on social justice-related issues, which would, in addition, consolidate the caste coalition that supported the
Janata Dal in northern India, and accordingly decided to implement the recommendations of the
Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be
reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged called
Other Backward Classes. This decision led to widespread protests among the
upper caste youth in urban areas in northern India. OBC reservation (less creamy layer) was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008. Culturally unique features of the protests and riots were
self-immolations,
bandhs (a version of a strike),
hartals (a version of a municipal shut-down),
dharnas (a version of swarming). Articles also highlighted politicians and victims of rioting during the protests. Although not advisable, late summer travel by airline and vehicle during the protests was possible without delays, between capitals New Delhi and Chandigarh, and Shimla for example.
Police prevented extending the range and duration of the strikes, and some strike activity from even occurring. A national state of emergency was largely not declared to mobilize army units against any one demonstration. The strike helped to give large popularity to the
Mandal Commission report and fueled the political grouping of the
OBC castes, which later helped a lot for the strengthening of regional political parties and stronger parties and other than
Congress and
BJP. Due to the loss of the votes of the
backward caste neither party opposed it and on seeing the protest nor parties declined it. Even after the passing of the reservations for the
Other Backward Class, he was never accepted by them, and his upper-caste voters also didn't have to trust him.
Tug of war with the Reliance group In 1990, the government-owned financial institutions like the
Life Insurance Corporation of India and the
General Insurance Corporation of India stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over
Larsen & Toubro. Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company.
Dhirubhai, who had become Larsen & Toubro's chairman in April 1989, had to quit his position to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the
State Bank of India. by
L. K. Advani.
Ram temple issue and the fall of the coalition Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party was moving its own agenda forward. In particular, the
Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, which served as a rallying cry for several Hindu organisations, took on a new life. The party president,
LK Advani, with
Pramod Mahajan as aide, toured the northern states on a
rath – a bus converted to look like a mythical chariot – with the intention of drumming up support. Before he could complete the tour by reaching the disputed site in
Ayodhya, he was arrested by
Lalu Prasad Yadav's orders at
Samastipur on the charges of disturbing the peace and fomenting communal tension. Lalu wanted to prevent the communal clashes which took place at different places for this Rath Yatra, and also Bihar faced a similar scenario in 1989 due to the Shilanyas by Rajiv Gandhi Government. Karsevaks reached the site on 30 October 1990, and by the orders of
Mulayam Singh Yadav police fired openly upon the Kar sevaks. A deadly riot took place in Ayodhya on 2 November. This led to the Bharatiya Janata Party's suspension of support to the National Front government. VP Singh faced the vote of no confidence in the Lok Sabha saying that he occupied the high moral ground, as he stood for secularism, had saved the Babri Masjid at the cost of power and had upheld the fundamental principles which were challenged during the crises. "What kind of India do you want?" he asked of his opponents in Parliament, before losing the vote 142–346; only a portion of the National Front remaining loyal to him and the
Left parties supported him in the vote. And then, Singh resigned on 7 November 1990.
Chandra Shekhar government Chandra Shekhar immediately seized the moment and left the Janata Dal with several of his own supporters (including
Devi Lal,
Janeshwar Mishra,
HD Deve Gowda,
Maneka Gandhi,
Ashoke Kumar Sen,
Subodh Kant Sahay,
Om Prakash Chautala,
Hukam Singh,
Chimanbhai Patel,
Mulayam Singh Yadav,
Yashwant Sinha,
VC Shukla, and
Sanjay Singh) to form the
Samajwadi Janata Party/Janata Dal (Socialist). Although Chandra Shekhar had a mere 64 MPs,
Rajiv Gandhi the leader of the Opposition, agreed to support him on the floor of the House; so he won a confidence motion and was sworn in as Prime Minister. Eight Janata Dal MPs who voted for this motion were disqualified by the speaker
Rabi Ray. His government lasted only a few months before he resigned and called for fresh elections. ==Post-premiership and death==