| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Any assessment of political developments in post-colonial India inevitably begins with the Indian National Congress (INC). Not only is it the oldest political party in India, but it also assumed a seminal role in mobilising and leading the independence movement from the late nineteenth century through to 1947. Since then, it has dominated parliamentary politics until 1996, when it lost government to a coalition of parties, in part as a result of what was identified as deep-seated corruption in the ranks of its parliamentarians. Yet there were other factors that contributed to this decline, the most notable of which was the emergence and rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Indeed, it could be argued that, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, the BJP could be seen as the most significant development in defining the changing nature of Indian politics.
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