The good olden days of one party majority rule has ceased and in its place now there is the era of coalition politics and rule where government is formed with the support of various parties especially the regional ones. The mushroom growth of the political parties including the strong emergence of the regional parties has necessitated the era of coalition politics and the present era can safely be called the era of coalition and consensus which has come to stay in our democracy .The days of single party rule is over and in its place the coalition politics has made great inroads in Indian politics .The history of coalition politics dates back to 1977 when the foundation coalition politics was laid .

A coalition is created when two or more political parties agree to collaborate ,generally for a single term ,to achieve a mutual goal such as forming a government with a majority .The decline of Congress began after the emergency. The formation of a coalition government in India in 1977 laid the foundation for the era of coalition politics .Political parties may form a coalition if they all want to protect the nation’s interest .
An alliance of two or more parties is needed when a single party does not have a majority in the house .This is because of multi-party system prevalent in India .We have embraced federal system of government .Federalism is the type of political system regarding the distribution of powers between the central government and the regions respectively .Federalism is a word that comes from Latin and means an alliance between political forces .Federalism is a form of political system in which two levels of government derive power from different sources. The formation of coalition governments in India is not new to the political system in the country.
The upper level government is the central state, and the lower level of government can be called state. The centre needs to understand and negotiate with state governments when implementing policies. .Coalitions are temporary governments that come into power when many political parties work together. They are created to deal with the complexities of democratic multi-party system .A coalition is formed when two or more parties who command a majority in the parliament or legislature. But these days there are coalition governments of two dozen parties and such broad is the coalition of the modern times .
India has seen a flux in its party system since 1967,when coalitions began to be formed. India changed to a coalition politics system with the introduction of regionalism. The coalition government in the centre indicates a significant shift in governance –both centralized and shared .Regional parties exert more influence on the Indian government .This led to change in regional-national relations .The coalition government has been the norm in all democracies for a long time now. Coalition governments are formed when coalitions of parties come together to form a government .
The nature of the today’s coalition is that they consist of more than dozens of the political parties mostly of regional character .As opposed to single –party governments ,coalition governments need to work together and be involved to make their laws and policies happen. This is because they do not have enough seats for legislation they need on their own .They also need to be more inclusive and reach out to political parties that can help them get legislation passed. Congress ruled for seven decades after independence as it was the single largest party and commanded full majority .The Congress party ruled the country until 1977,when the Janata alliance replaced it. Congress regained power in 1980 and governed until it was defeated in 1989.The party led a coalition to create the government in 1991 and UPA government in 2004 and 2009.Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, fearing her removal from the post of Prime Minister .
In 1977,Gandhi announced elections to offer the voters an opportunity to defend her leadership. After Gandhi removed the state of emergency ,the Janata coalition led by Morarji Desai ,rose to power .Under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan ,the allied parties subsequently united to become the Janata Party .This began the era of coalition politics by the formation of a coalition government in India .Following 1989 no single party received most votes or seats in any Lok Sabha election conducted between 1989 and 2014.This ushered in an era of coalition governments at the centre ,with regional parties playing a critical role in building major coalitions..India is a country with a wide range of cultures .Different communities ,dialects ,castes ,faiths ,and geographical divisions exist .This implies that the coalition government is more inclusive and represents the popular sentiment of voters .However coalition governments are unsteady or liable to become unstable. The coalition governments fall apart due to disagreements among alliance partners .
A coalition is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government .The unusual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after the election .Same has been the case with BJP and it as such entered into coalition government with its pre poll allies and Modi government 3.0 depends upon the support of alliance partners particularly the JDU and TDP and as such it is most uncertain government and it will go on till it gets support from its alliance partners.NDA is a coalition government of more than 40 alliance partners .
However Modi knows well to manage the coalition government as he has experience of governing the country by coalitions .In 2014 and 2019 general elections, BJP got an absolute majority on its own but in both these turns ,he took its alliance partners together and formed the NDA government for the full 10 years .Before it Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed the coalition government called NDA from 16 May to 1st June 1996 and then from 19th March 1998 to 22 May 2004.Vajpayee headed the BJP led NDA in the Indian parliament ,and became the first prime minister unaffiliated with Indian National Congress. After the 1996 general elections ,the BJP emerged the single largest party in Lok Sabha ,Vajpayee formed the coalition government under the name of NDA ,but after 13 days in office ,proved unable to muster a governing majority and resigned. Then H.D.Dewe Gowda ,leader of the United Front –UF coalition formed the coalition government. The United Front was only able to sustain a majority in Parliament until 1998 ,resigning after Congress withdrew its support.
In 1998 general election ,the BJP again emerged as the single largest party ,but was able to assemble a governing coalition called the National Democratic Alliance –NDA .Other constituents of the NDA included the AIADMK ,BSP ,Shiv Sena ,Akali Dal, NC and TMC amongst others. By early 1999,the NDA government lost its majority after the AIADMK leader J.Jayalaitha withdrew its support .Public anger against smaller parties that jeopardized the NDA coalition and the wave of support for the Vajpayee government in the aftermath of the Kargil war gave BJP a larger presence in the Lok Sabha.The NDA won a decisive majority with the support of new constituents such as JDU and the DMK .However in 2024 general election, BJP emerged the largest party but fell short of the simple majority and thus Modi took the support of its pre poll allies of JDU,TDP,LJSP,HUM and other parties and cobbled an NDA coalition. It is likely that this coalition will last the full five year term as Modi has mastered the art of managing coalitions. But it is true that coalition governments are unstable and unsteady.Despite this limitation of coalition governments ,the coalition politics has come to stay in India.

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