An arrest on a highway in Bihar brings down a government in Delhi

V. P. Singh's National Front government, formed after the 1989 election, held office only with outside support from the BJP and the Left — it did not command a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha. Through 1990, L. K. Advani led a rath yatra (a chariot procession) across northern India campaigning for a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, gathering large crowds and, in the BJP's account, mounting pressure that Singh's government resisted.

In the early hours of 23–24 October 1990, Bihar's government — led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, a National Front ally — had Advani arrested in Samastipur district and placed under detention, on the grounds that his procession's arrival in Ayodhya risked communal violence. The BJP withdrew its outside support for Singh's government that same day, over what it called an assault on a legitimate political campaign.

Stripped of its majority, the National Front government lost a subsequent confidence motion, and V. P. Singh resigned on 10 November 1990, having governed just under a year. His government's fall opened the way to Chandra Shekhar's short-lived successor government with Congress backing — and the BJP entered the 1991 election having sharply raised its national profile through the Ayodhya campaign.