Coalition of the Indian National Congress and its allies
Indian political party
Political party in India
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a big tent centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India formed after the 2004 general election.[1] The largest member party of the UPA is the Indian National Congress (INC), whose president Sonia Gandhi is chairperson of the UPA. It formed a government with support from some other left-aligned parties in 2004 after no single party could get the majority on its own.
History
This section may require copy editing. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
2004–2008: Formation and rise
The UPA was formed soon after the 2004 general elections when it had become clear that no party had won an absolute majority. The hitherto ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won 181 seats[2] in the 543-member 14th Lok Sabha, as opposed to the UPA's tally of 218 seats.
The Left Front with 59 MPs (excluding the speaker of the Lok Sabha), the Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs and the Bahujan Samaj Party with 19 MPs were other significant blocks that opted to support UPA at various phases of its rule.[3][4] The UPA did not enjoy a simple majority on its own in the parliament, rather it has relied on the external support to ensure that it enjoys the confidence of the Indian parliament similar to the formula adopted by the previous minority governments of the United Front, the NDA, the Congress government of P. V. Narasimha Rao, and earlier governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar.
An informal alliance had existed prior to the elections as several of the current constituent parties had developed seat-sharing agreements in many states. However, it was only after the election that the results of negotiations between parties were announced. The UPA government's policies were initially guided by a common minimum programme that the alliance hammered out with fruitful consultations with Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet of the 59-member Left Front.[5] Hence, government policies were generally perceived as centre-left, reflecting the centrist policies of the INC.
During the tenure of Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, the constituents of the UPA were, by mutual consent, supporting his government.[6]
On 22 July 2008, the UPA narrowly survived a vote of confidence in the parliament brought on by the Left Front withdrawing their support in protest at the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.[7] The Congress party and its leaders along with then SP leader Amar Singh were accused for cash for vote scam as part of the cash-for-votes scandal, in which they were accused for buying votes in Lok Sabha to save the government.[8][9][10] During UPA I the economy saw steady economic growth and there was a drastic reduction in poverty.
2009–2014: Struggles
In the Indian General Election in 2009, the UPA won 262 seats, of which the INC accounted for 206. During the governance of UPA II, the alliance was broiled in a number of scams. This ranged from 2G spectrum to Coalgate scam. These scams impacted UPA image nationwide and the approval rating for the govt continued to fall. In addition many members from YSRCP. This started a domino effect with members leaving to form their own parties or parties like DMK leaving the alliance altogether. During this time UPA struggled with state election and leadership stability. Then in the run-up to the 2014 Indian election UPA appointed Rahul Gandhi as the PM candidate. The alliance had a humiliating defeat as it failed to only 60 seats a huge reduction from 262. In addition UPA only managed to win 1 state election and got wiped out from AP to 0 where they previously had 150+ MLA.
2015–2019: Slump, rise back, and repeat
The UPA horror after the 2014 Indian general election continued. From 2014 to 2017, they only won 3 state elections during this period and it mostly included states they had a high amount of presence in. This was blamed on the alliance's failed leadership and weakness compared to the NDA. In addition the part lost power in states in which they won state elections like Bihar. And in 2017 alliance lost the 2017 Indian presidential election. However all changed in 2018. UPA had a phenomenal comeback in the state election as the party had won important and crucial state elections like Karnataka, Rajasthan and others. It was able to have more parties join the alliance and it was stronger than ever.
However that changed in 2019 Indian general election when UPA only managed to win 91 seats in the general election and failed to secure the opposition post too. This was another setback to the alliance as they hoped to continue their 2018 form. In addition the alliance lost another state to BJP with the party winning by-polls and pushing the UPA into minority and forming the govt. But towards the end of 2019, it changed as the alliance was able to make a strong comeback. The alliance made huge gains in Haryana won in Jharkhand and formed a sub alliance called Maha Vikas Aghadi to form the government in Maharashtra.
2020–present: Continuation
Since 2020, it was able to make more parties join the alliance and it had strengthened the alliance. The alliance lost the crucial Bihar election which everyone expected it to win. In addition UPA only won 1 out of the 5 state elections in 2021. However the alliance was able to make significant gain in a number of MLA.
Controversies
The winter session of parliament in October 2008 came under intense criticism from the Left parties and the BJP to demand a full-fledged winter session instead of what was seen as the UPA to having "scuttled the voice of Parliament" by bringing down the sittings to a record low of 30 days in the year. The tensions between the UPA and the opposition parties became evident at an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee when the leader of opposition, LK Advani questioned the status, timing and schedule of the current session of parliament.[47]
Karunanidhi had said he felt "let down" by the "lukewarm" response of the Centre and had demanded amendments in the resolution on Sri Lanka.[citation needed]
One of the amendments was to "declare that genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on the Eelam Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army and the administrators".
The second one was "establishment of a credible and independent international commission of investigation in a time-bound manner into the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law and crime of genocide against the Tamils". Karunanidhi said Parliament should adopt the resolution incorporating these two amendments.[48]
The UPA has also been criticised for its alleged involvement in a number of scams such as the Commonwealth Games Scam of 2010, the 2G spectrum case, and the Coalgate scam. Apart from the above-mentioned scams, the UPA has been under intense fire for the alleged doles handed out to the son-in-law of the Gandhi family, Robert Vadra, by different state governments run by the UPA.[49]
