NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government completed five years in office on Wednesday, with analysts describing Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s rule as a mixed bag of hits and misses.

“One of the biggest achievements of the government is that it has survived for five continuous years. The coalition has held despite turbulence,” said analyst B.G. Verghese.

The National Democratic Alliance, which is headed by Mr Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), came to power in April 1998, but collapsed a year later before going on to win a five-year term in Oct 1999.

The Vajpayee government, Verghese said, could take credit for holding elections in occupied Kashmir last September/October, which were largely acknowledged as “free and fair”.

But marring Vajpayee’s tenure were sectarian riots in Gujarat last year, the rout of the BJP in a series of provincial elections and the spread of communal politics and divisiveness, he said.

Analysts also said Vajpayee has not been able to stem strident anti-Muslim slogans from Hindu zealots allied to his party or take a firm stand on their demand to construct a temple on the ruins of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.

“This is politics of divisiveness which has seen a spurt during Vajpayee’s tenure in office,” Verghese said.

Also interesting, he added, was the fact that although the Vajpayee government seemed well ensconced in New Delhi, it had lost ground to the Congress party in provincial polls.

The BJP and its allies control four provinces, while the Congress controls 14.

Also taking off some of the sheen were a series of defence and stock market related scams and incidents of dissension within the BJP, Verghese said.

On the diplomatic front, the Vajpayee government deserved kudos for bringing India out of the nuclear closet in May 1998 and his attempts to mend fences with Pakistan, analysts said.

“The Vajpayee government also deserves credit for turning the India-United States diplomatic relations around” from the days of Washington imposing sanctions on New Delhi after the nuclear tests to the current situation when relations are on the upswing, Bhaskar said.—AFP