ABSTRACT
In both the parliamentary and assembly elections, the Indian voters once again lashed out strongly against incumbency, as they have tended to increasingly do in each of the last four or five general elections. The 1989 elections saw the commencement of a new trend in class mobilization which grew out of two developments: the changes that have occurred since the late sixties in agrarian economic structure, and the failure of the Congress to retain its traditional support among Harijans. The Bharatiya Janata Party made spectacular gains, which combined with its much greater internal cohesion, made it in many respects the most decisive single force in the anti-Congress coalition. Behind this altered status of the Congress party lie major changes in India's political economy and socio-cultural order. The effects of industrialization, the media revolution, and all that sociologically accompany these phenomena have proceeded far enough to produce a nationally integrated political culture.
