ABSTRACT
In June 1991, India conducted its 10th parliamentary elections, returning the Congress party to power under the leadership of P. V. Narasimharao. As in 1989, the 1991 elections failed to produce a parliamentary majority, and Narasimharao headed India's third minority government within two years. The opposition had united against Indira Gandhi in 1977 to defeat the Congress, but its Janata government collapsed in petty feuds and personal rivalries. The Janata Dal, the principal constituent of the National Front coalition, was heir to the Congress culture, and all its leaders had been at one time or another in the Congress party. As a multiethnic state with distinct regional identities, India has long faced demands for greater regional autonomy, and the centralization of authority under Indira Gandhi sharpened tensions between the Center and the states. Nowhere was this more dramatic than in the Punjab, Assam, and Kashmir, where separatist movements posed major challenges to India's unity.
