Chandra Shekhar Samajwadi Janata Party minority (India)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Caretaker minority of 64 Janata Dal defectors (SJP-R) sustained by Congress outside support — pre-reform crisis management doctrine. Economic school: reactive crisis-management amid collapsing foreign reserves; ideologically-heterodox Young Turk socialist strand at odds with approaching IMF conditionality. Dated policies: Emergency gold pledge to Bank of England and Union Bank of Switzerland May-Jul 1991 — 46.91 tonnes pledged against $405m loan; IMF Structural Adjustment approach initiated Jan 1991; Finance Bill 1991 (interim vote-on- account Mar 1991 after Congress withdrew support, election called); foreign-reserves fell to $1.2bn / two weeks' imports Jun 1991. Left-right: nominally centre-left socialist strand; economic policy forced rightward by crisis. Popularity: never won general election; Congress withdrew support Mar 1991 over Haryana surveillance allegations; general election May-Jun 1991 held during Rajiv Gandhi assassination 21 May 1991 — INC 36.5% / 232 largest single party. Coherence: very low — a caretaker without mandate managing the worst balance-of-payments crisis of independence-era India; laid groundwork for Rao-Singh reforms by making IMF path unavoidable.