India, Oct. 30 -- center;">The late 1980s and 1990s produced a new moment in Indian politics.

As Sanjay Ruparelia's essay in this series has shown, the outcomes of the 1989, 1991, 1996 and 1998 elections deepened democracy, reflected a churn in identity politics on both the religion and caste dimensions, gave a voice to regional and Left parties in national decision-making in unprecedented ways at different moments, and marked the slow decline of the Congress and rise of other forces.

But between 1989 and 1998, India also saw six prime ministers - VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar, PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, HD Deve Gowda, IK Gujral and Vajpayee again. Note that Rao completed his five-year term, illustrating how short-lived the oth...