“Deinstitutionalization” is a term used in India with increasing frequency to describe the degeneration of the nation’s basic governmental institutions. There are three levels of political instability: state Government ministerial instability; central Government ministerial instability; and regime instability. In an assessment of the prospects for political stability in India, political parties, as they organize power, are inevitably the central concern of analysis, but bureaucracy plays a vital role in sustaining stability, and it assumes increased responsibility to the degree that party Government is weak or unstable. At a time of unease that follows the loss of a leader, the selection of Rajiv as Prime Minister would respond to concern for national unity and political stability--the probable Congress party themes for the election campaign. Any attempt by the President to replay the Haryana maneuver at the Center would be widely perceived as a presidential coup d’etat and would seriously threaten political stability.