"Does Prime Minister V.P. Singh enjoy the confidence of the house?" Last Wednesday, the question was put to a vote in the lower house of parliament, and Singh lost. Two days later, with the backing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, his job was taken over by Chandrashekhar, who broke away from Singh's Janata Dal party on Monday.
Singh's government fell after only 11 months when issues of caste and religion erupted into violence over rival Hindu-Muslim claims to the site of a mosque at Ayodhya. Winning the support of less than half of the 140 Janata Dal members, Chandrashekhar will...