'199: Key Events

• The government’s policy to increase quotas of jobs for ‘backward castes’ in public service is strongly attacked by upper-caste and middle- class sectors.

• ​Karunanidhi’s DMK government in Tamil Nadu is dismissed for allegedly supporting the Sri Lankan LTTE.

• A ‘Rath-Yatra’, evoking a medieval chariot procession, is led by L. K. Advani of the BJP from Somnath to Ayodhya, fomenting communal violence along its route. Advani is arrested by the Janata Dal; in retaliation, the BJP withdraws its support from the government, which falls. The second Shilanyas procession and the ‘kar seva’ at Ayodhya on 30 October in which several people are killed and injured in police action.

• The first Bombay International Film Festival for Shorts and Documentaries, sponsored by Films Division.