From 2004 to 2019 and the new consensus

2004: the NDA lost, and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) formed the government under Manmohan Singh, with outside support from the Left. In 2008, the Left withdrew its support over the India–US civil nuclear deal, but the government survived.

2009: the UPA returned. The Congress rose from 145 to 206 seats, and Manmohan Singh began a second term.

2014: the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, won 282 seats: the first single-party majority in 30 years (since 1984). 2019: it did even better, with 303 seats. (In 2024, the BJP won 240 seats and Modi formed a third government with its NDA allies.)

Intense competition, broad agreement: parties fight hard at elections, yet on many big questions a new consensus has formed:

• New economic policies: almost all parties now accept the reforms begun in 1991.
• The political and social claims of backward castes are accepted by all; every party supports OBC reservations.
• State-level parties have a recognised role in governing the country.
• Pragmatism over ideology: parties form alliances for power without full ideological agreement.

Some issues still get little attention in party politics: poverty, displacement by development projects, minimum wages, livelihoods and social security. These are raised by movements outside the party system, of farmers, workers, women, Dalits and Adivasis.

After all its twists, from one-party dominance to coalitions and back to strong single-party governments, the lesson of this book is that democracy is here to stay in India: power changes hands through the ballot.