Beyond the mid-life crisis

What kind of existence does a government have after a mid-life crisis? Virtually every government of the last 40 years has been hit by crisis before the half-way mark. Of 13 governments since 1971, seven collapsed in a heap fairly early, the longest survivor being Morarji Desai’s of 1977 (two years and four months). Four others hobbled along after a mid-life crisis but never recovered: Indira Gandhi’s of 1971 (the JP movement which led to the Emergency) and 1980 (the Punjab and Assam crises), Rajiv Gandhi’s of 1985 (Bofors), and finally Narasimha Rao’s of 1991 (Babri Masjid and election setbacks in states).

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