The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; IAST: Saṁyukt Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party got the majority.^[6]

The UPA subsequently governed India from 2004 until 2014 for 2 terms before losing power to their main rivals, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The UPA used to rule 7 States and union territories of India before it was dissolved to form the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance on 18 July 2023 ahead of the 2024 general election.^[7][8]

Members at the time of dissolution.

Members left before dissolution.

Note that it refers to nomination by alliance, as the offices of President and Vice President are apolitical.

The winter session of parliament in October 2008 came under intense criticism from the Left parties and the BJP to demand a full-fledged winter session instead of what was seen as the UPA to having "scuttled the voice of Parliament" by bringing down the sittings to a record low of 30 days in the year. The tensions between the UPA and the opposition parties became evident at an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee when the leader of opposition, L. K. Advani questioned the status, timing and schedule of the current session of parliament.^[22]

M. Karunanidhi had said he felt "let down" by the "lukewarm" response of the centre and had demanded amendments in the resolution on Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]}

One of the amendments was to "declare that genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on the Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sri Lanka Army and the administrators".

The second one was "establishment of a credible and independent international commission of investigation in a time-bound manner into the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international International human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law and crime of genocide against the Tamils". Karunanidhi said Parliament should adopt the resolution incorporating these two amendments.^[23]

The year 2008 was a darkest part of the UPA, due to the failure to prevent several terrorist attacks. The UPA had repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 in 2004, which softened the stand on acts of terrorism and weakened the law enforcement.^[24] The weakened legislation, along with intelligence failures, resulted in bombings in 2008 across cities like Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi, led by the Indian Mujahideen.^[25] During the 2008 Mumbai attacks, when 10 Pakistani terrorists from the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba came from the sea route and seized the city for 3 days, the UPA Government faced immense criticism from citizens and leaders of opposition for intelligence failures as well as not being able to provide quick transportation for NSG commandos.^[26][27] Furthermore, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, was criticized for launching a book which mentioned that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was somehow linked to the attack, despite credible evidence and confessions from Ajmal Kasab, the only gunman who was captured by Mumbai Police.^[28][29] The 2008 attacks in Mumbai also led to resignation of several leaders in the UPA, both in Central and Maharashtra State Government, on the grounds of moral responsibility as well as for making insensitive statements.^[30][31][32]

The UPA was criticised for its alleged involvement scams such as the Commonwealth Games Scam of 2010, the 2G spectrum case, and the Indian coal allocation scam. Apart from the above-mentioned scams, the UPA has been under intense fire for the alleged doles handed out to the son-in-law of the Gandhi family, Robert Vadra, by UPA-run state governments.^[33]

The UPA Government has been severely condemned for mishandling the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. As per several media houses, the Government had failed to act positively or give credible assurances to the protesters and instead used police force, lathi-charging, pushing the media out of the scene, and shutting down metro rail stations.^[34] In the aftermath of the incident, while the Government passed an amendment of the current laws against rape and sexual assault, which ensured stricter punishments for rape convicts, the amendment was criticized and labeled as an eyewash, as the changes in the laws failed to serve as a deterrent to rising incidents of rape.^[35] Furthermore, several key suggestions were ignored, including the criminalisation of marital rape and trying military personnel accused of sexual offences under criminal law, which was severely condemned by several women's safety activists.^[36]

During its tenure between 2004 and 2014, as well as before, the UPA faced widespread condemnation for indulging in appeasement politics. Following the introduction of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, which criminalized triple talaq or instant divorce and replaced the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986, several leaders from the UPA opposed the law.^[37]

The UPA, in its opposition, faced immense criticism by the NDA Government for banking frauds, mostly by giving unsecured loans to fugitive businessmen Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi during the tenure of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.^[38][39] Mallya owes money to a consortium of 17 banks, from whom he took loan to fund his now closed Kingfisher Airlines, and Modi owes money to the Punjab National Bank.^[40][41] While Mallya and Modi have been apprehended in the Great Britain and awaiting extradition, Choksi acquired citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda, with a warrant against him to extradite to India for the bank fraud.^[42][43][44]

• Indian National Congress
• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
• Coalition government
• National Advisory Council
• National Democratic Alliance
• Third Front