Study the cartoon given below and answer the following questions :

i. Identify any four national leaders from the above cartoon and mention the serial number of each.

ii. Which was the most controversial issue of the period related to leader No.2 as Prime Minister of India ?

iii. What was the position of the party led by leader No.1 in the Lok Sabha elections of 1989 ?

Party politics in India has confronted numerous challenges. Not only has the Congress system destroyed itself, but the fragmentation of the Congress coalition has triggered a new emphasis on self-representation which raises questions about the pary system and its capacity to accommodate diverse interests.....An important test facing the polity is to evolve a party system or political parties that can effectively articulate and aggregate a variety of interests. —Zoya Hasan

(a) Write a short note on what the author calls challenges of the party system in the light of what you have read in this chapter.

(b) Give an example from this chapter of the lack of accommodation and aggrigation mentioned in this passage.

(c) Why is it necessary for parties to accommodate and aggregate variety of interests ?

‘1989 elections marked the end of what the political scientists have called the ________.”