Overview
- Rajiv Gandhi pushed telecom and technology modernisation even as religious interventions and misjudged regional moves clouded his legacy.
- V. P. Singh’s Janata Dal enacted OBC reservations under Mandal, reshaping party coalitions and voter blocs across the heartland.
- The Ram Janmabhoomi mobilisation recast communal politics and propelled the BJP’s rise, altering the national discourse.
- P. V. Narasimha Rao and finance minister Manmohan Singh launched 1991 liberalisation that opened the economy and set up telecom and IT-led growth.
- The decade paired assassinations, riots and insurgencies with a surge in big-money scandals, while television, a new wave in Hindi cinema and standout sports figures reset popular culture.