The
Janata Party ( , People's Party) was an
amalgam of Indian
political
parties opposed to the state of
emergency (1975–1977) imposed by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Indian National Congress
. In the
general
election held after the end of the state of emergency in 1977,
the Janata party defeated Congress (R) to form the first
non-Congress government in the
history of the Republic of
India.
Economic
problems, corruption and the conviction of Indira Gandhi by the
Allahabad High
Court
in 1975 for misusing government machinery for her
election campaign led to widespread protests against the Congress
(R) government. In response to growing unrest, the
government imposed a state of emergency with the rationale of
preserving national security. However, the government introduced
press censorship, postponed elections and banned strikes and
rallies. Opposition leaders such as
Jayaprakash Narayan,
Jivatram Kripalani and
Morarji Desai were imprisoned along with
thousands of other political activists. When the state of emergency
was lifted and new elections called in 1977, opposition political
parties such as the
Congress ,
Bharatiya Jana Sangh,
Bharatiya Lok Dal as well as defectors
from the Congress (R) joined to form the Janata party, which won a
sweeping majority in the
Indian
Parliament.
The new Janata-led government reversed many Emergency-era decrees
and opened official investigations into Emergency-era abuses.
Although several major foreign policy and economic reforms were
attempted, continuous in-fighting and ideological differences made
the Janata government unable to effectively address national
problems. By mid-1979, Prime Minister Morarji Desai was forced to
resign and his successor
Chaudhary Charan Singh failed to
sustain a parliamentary majority as alliance partners withdrew
support. Popular disenchantment with the political in-fighting and
ineffective government led to the resurgence of Indira Gandhi and
her new Congress (I) party, which won the general election called
in 1980. Although the original Janata party fragmented and
dissolved, modern political parties continue to invoke the legacy
of the Janata party.
History
Having led the
Indian
independence movement, the
Indian National Congress became the
most popular political party in independent India and won every
election following national independence in 1947. However, the
Indian National Congress bifurcated in 1967 over the issue of the
leadership of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of India's first Prime
Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru.
Supporters of Indira Gandhi claimed to be the real Congress party,
adopting the name Indian National Congress (R) - where "R" stood
for "Requisition." Congress politicians who opposed Indira
identified themselves as the
Indian National
Congress - where "O" stood for "Organisation" or "Old."
For the
1971 election, the Congress (O), Samyukta Socialist Party and the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh had formed a coalition called the "Grand
Alliance" to oppose Indira Gandhi and the Congress (R), but failed
to have an impact;; Indira's Congress (R) won a large majority in
the 1971 elections and her popularity increased significantly after
India's victory in the war of
1971 against Pakistan
.
However, Indira's subsequent inability to address serious issues
such as unemployment, poverty, inflation and shortages eroded her
popularity. The frequent invoking of "
President's rule" to dismiss state
governments led by opposition political parties was seen as
authoritarian and opportunist. Political leaders such as
Jayaprakash Narayan and Congress (O) chief Morarji Desai condemned
Indira's government as dictatorial and corrupt. Narayan and Desai
founded the
Janata Morcha
(
People's Front), the predecessor of what would become the
Janata party.
The Janata Morcha won the elections for the
Vidhan Sabha (State Legislature) of the
state of Gujarat
on June 11,
1975.
Raj
Narain, a leader of the Socialist Party of India, who had
unsuccessfully contested election against Indira from the
constituency of Rae
Bareilly
in 1971,
lodged a case at the Allahabad High Court, alleging electoral
malpractices and the use of government resources for her election
campaign. On June 12, 1975 in
State of Uttar Pradesh
v. Raj
Narain, the Allahabad High Court found Indira guilty and
barred her from holding public office for six years. Opposition
politicians immediately demanded her resignation and stepped up
mass protests against the government.
On June 25, Narayan
and Desai held a massive rally in Delhi
, calling for
a "Satyagraha" - a campaign of
non-violent civil disobedience to
force the government to resign.
Emergency
On June 26, 1975 the
President of
India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
accepted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's recommendation to declare a
state of national emergency. Indira argued that the political and
civil disorder constituted a threat to national security. A state
of emergency enabled the central government to issue executive
decrees without requiring the consent of Parliament. Elections were
postponed and public gatherings, rallies and strikes were banned.
Curfews were imposed and police forces were empowered to make
warrantless searches, seizures and arrests. Indira's government
imposed "President's rule" in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat,
dismissing the governments controlled by opposition political
parties. The central government also imposed censorship on radio,
television and newspapers. Across the country, police forces
arrested thousands of opposition political activists, as well as
leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, Morarji
Desai, Raj Narain, Charan Singh,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and others.
Opposition political organisations such as the Hindu nationalist
Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were
banned and their leaders arrested. Only the
Communist Party of India supported
the state of emergency. Due to the advancing age and failing
health, Narayan was released from prison, but remained prohibited
from political activity.
During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi implemented a 20-point program
of economic reforms that resulted in greater economic growth, aided
by the absence of strikes and trade union conflicts. Encouraged by
these positive signs and distorted and biased information from her
party supporters, Indira called elections for May, 1977. However,
the Emergency era had been widely unpopular. The most controversial
issue was the 42nd amendment to the
Constitution of India, which deprived
citizens of direct access to the Supreme Court, except when
violation of the fundamental rights resulted from Union law. The
Parliament was given unrestrained power to amend any parts of the
Constitution. The Supreme Court was given exclusive jurisdiction as
regards determination of the constitutional validity of laws passed
by the Union government. It restricted the power of the courts to
issue stay orders or injunctions. Almost all parts of the
Constitution saw changes through this amendment. The clamp down on
civil liberties and allegations of widespread abuse of human rights
by police had angered the public. Indira Gandhi was believed to be
under the influence of a clique of politicians led by her youngest
son,
Sanjay Gandhi, who had become
notorious for using his influence in the government and the
Congress (R) for alleged corrupt activities. Sanjay Gandhi had
masterminded the Union government's unpopular campaign of family
planning, which had allegedly involved forcible sterilization of
young men by government officials.
Sanjay Gandhi had also instigated the
demolition of slums in the Jama Masjid
area of New
Delhi
, the national capital, which left thousands of
people, mostly Muslims, homeless. Indian labourers, urban
workers, teachers and government employees were also disenchanted
by wage freezes and the curtailing of trade union activities and
rights.
Creation
Calling elections on January 18, 1977 the government released
political prisoners and weakened restrictions and censorship on the
press, although the state of emergency was not officially ended.
When opposition leaders sought the support of Jayaprakash Narayan
for the forthcoming election, Narayan insisted that all opposition
parties form a united front. The Janata party was officially
launched on January 23, 1977 when the Janata Morcha, Charan Singh's
Bharatiya Lok Dal,
Swatantra Party,
the
Socialist Party of
India of Raj Narain and
George
Fernandes, and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) joined together,
dissolving their separate identities (the merger of all party
organisations was to be completed after the election). Although the
political ideologies of Janata constituents were diverse and
conflicting, the party was able to unite under the over-reaching
appeal of Jayaprakash Narayan, who had been seen as the ideological
leader of the anti-Emergency movement and now the Janata party.
Morarji Desai was elected the first party chairman.
Ramakrishna Hegde became the party general
secretary, and Jana Sangh politician Lal Krishna Advani became the
party spokesperson.
The Janata manifesto was released on February 10, which declared
that the coming election presented voters with:
As it became clear that Indira's Emergency rule had been widely
unpopular, defections from the Congress (R) government increased.
The most significant was that of
Jagjivan
Ram, who commanded great support amongst India's
Dalit communities. A former Minister of Defence, Ram
left the Congress (R) and along with his supporters formed the
Congress for Democracy on
February 2, 1977. Other co-founders included the former
Chief Minister of Orissa Nandini Satpathy, former Union Minister of
State for Finance K. R. Ganesh, former M.P. D. N. Tiwari and Bihar
politician Mangal Raj Pandey.
Although committing to contest the election with the Janata party,
Ram resisted merging his party organisation with Janata. It was
ultimately decided that the Congress for Democracy would contest
the election with the same manifesto as the Janata party and would
join the Janata party in Parliament, but would otherwise retain a
separate identity (the CFD would merge with the Janata party after
the elections on May 5). On January 30, 1977 the
Communist Party of India
announced that it would seek to avoid a splintering in the
opposition vote by not running candidates against the Janata
party.
Constituent Parties
Congress leaders like
Devaraj Urs joined Janata Party in the later
stage.
1977 elections
During the election campaign, the leaders of the Congress (R) and
the Janata party travelled across the country to rally supporters.
Indira and her Congress (R) promoted the record of achieving
economic development and orderly government. Although she offered
apologies for abuses committed during the Emergency, Indira and the
Congress (R) defended the rationale of imposing the state of
emergency as being essential for national security. On the other
hand, Janata leaders assailed Indira for ruling as a dictator and
endangering human rights and democracy in India. Janata's campaign
evoked memories of India's freedom struggle against
British rule, during which Jayaprakash Narayan,
Jivatram Kripalani and Morarji Desai had first emerged as political
leaders. Although Narayan and Kripalani did not seek office
themselves, they became the leading campaigners for the Janata
party, drawing great masses of people in rallies across the
country.
Actions taken during Emergency significantly diminished support for
the Congress (R) amongst its most loyal constituencies. The
bulldozing of slums near the Jama Masjid was widely unpopular
amongst India's Muslims, and the defection of Jagjivan Ram
significantly diminished support for the Congress (R) amongst
India's Dalits.
BLD leader Charan Singh's peasant roots
helped him raise considerable support in the rural parts of
Uttar
Pradesh
, the most populous state of India.
The
Shiromani Akali Dal, the party of the Sikhs of
Punjab
and regional
political parties such as the Tamil Nadu
-based Dravida Munnetra Kazagham] became important
allies. The leaders of the
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh
rallied India's middle-class merchants, traders and conservative
Hindus. The Hindu nationalist RSS and trade
unions aligned with Janata helped rally considerable voting
blocs.
The 1977 election drew a turnout of 60% from an electorate of more
than 320 million. On March 23, it was announced that the Janata
party had won a sweeping victory, securing 43.2% of the popular
vote and 271 seats. With the support of the Akali Dal and the
Congress for Democracy, it had amassed a two-thirds, or absolute
majority of 345 seats. Although the Congress for Democracy won 28
seats, Ram's standing as a national Dalit leader and moving a
significant share of the Dalit vote to the Janata party and its
allies won him considerable influence.
In
contrast to the rest of the country, the Janata party won only six
seats from India's southern states - none from the state of
Kerala
- where the
Emergency had not caused political unrest. The Congress (R)
won a total of 153 seats, mainly from India's south. However,
Janata candidates resoundingly defeated Congress (R) candidates in
the northern "
Hindi belt", especially in
Uttar Pradesh . One of the most shocking outcomes of the election
was the defeat of Indira Gandhi in her bid to seek re-election from
her constituency of Amethi, which she lost to her 1971 opponent Raj
Narain by a margin of 55,200 votes. The Congress (R) did not win
any seats in Uttar Pradesh and was wiped out in 10 states and
territories by Janata candidates.
Government formation
On the
morning of March 24, Jayaprakash Narayan led the newly-elected
Janata MPs to Raj
Ghat
, where the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were lain, and
administered a pledge to continue Gandhi's work and preserve
honesty in serving the nation. Immediately afterwards, the
Janata party faced a serious challenge in choosing a leader to
become India's new Prime Minister, where the rival bids of party
leaders could divide the party and weaken its majority before it
took power. Janata party chairman Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and
Jagjivan Ram enjoyed the support of a significant number of Janata
MPs and the activists brought from their own political parties into
the Janata organisation. To avoid a potentially divisive contest,
Janata leaders asked Jayaprakash Narayan and Jivatram Kripalani to
select the party's leader, pledging to abide by their choice. After
a period of deliberation, Narayan selected Morarji Desai to become
the chairman of the Janata Parliamentary Party on May 24. Although
some leaders such as
George
Fernandes and Jagjivan Ram hesitated to support Desai and
criticised the un-democratic method of selection, Desai's position
was soon confirmed and consolidated.
Taking office as Prime Minister, Desai also took charge of the
Ministry of Finance. He sought to carefully distribute important
posts to satisfy Janata's different constituents and the most
powerful party leaders who were rivals for his own position of
leadership. Both Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram were accorded the
title of Deputy Prime Minister. Charan Singh became the Minister of
Home Affairs, the second-most important position in the Council of
Ministers, while Jagjivan Ram took charge of the Ministry of
Defence. BJS leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Lal Krishna Advani were respectively
given charge of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting.
Raj
Narain was appointed Minister of Health,
Madhu Dandavate was to head the Ministry of
Railways and trade unionist
George
Fernandes was made the Minister of Communications. Jurist
Shanti Bhushan was appointed
Minister of Law and
Justice. Congress (O) veteran and Janata candidate
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy won the
presidential election to
become the 6th President of India on July 25, 1977.
The results of its election defeat considerably weakened and
diminished the Congress (R). Significant numbers of Congress (R)
MPs and activists condemned Indira's leadership and left the party.
As a result, MPs still loyal to Indira Gandhi renamed their party
to Congress (I) - "I" standing for Indira. Although no longer an
MP, Indira Gandhi continued as the president of Congress (I), which
remained the largest opposition party.
Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai
(1977–1979)
Janata rule
The first actions taken by the Desai government were to formally
end the state of emergency and media censorship and repeal the
controversial executive decrees issued during the Emergency. The
Constitution was amended to make it more difficult for any future
government to declare a state of emergency; fundamental freedoms
and the independence of India's judiciary was reaffirmed.
The new government also proceeded to withdraw all charges against
the 25 accused in the
Baroda
dynamite case, which included the new Minister of Industry,
George Fernandes. The Minister of Railways reinstated the railway
employees disciplined after the May 1974 strike. The Desai
government proceeded to establish inquiry commissions and tribunals
to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses by
members of Indira Gandhi's government, political party and the
police forces. Specific inquiries were instituted on Sanjay
Gandhi's management of the state-owned
Maruti Udyog Ltd., the activities of the
former Minister of Defence
Bansi Lal and
the
1971 Nagarwala scandal.
Both Indira and her son Sanjay were charged with allegations of
corruption and briefly arrested.
Elections in the states
Immediately upon taking office, the Janata government pressured the
ten state governments where the Congress (R) was in power to
dissolve the state assemblies and hold fresh elections in June.
Home Minister Charan Singh argued that the ruling party had been
resoundingly rejected by voters and would need to win a new mandate
from the people of the states. The Congress (R) was defeated in all
the states, and the Janata party took power in seven - Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Himachal Pradesh. In Punjab, the Janata party formed a coalition
government with the Akali Dal. The number of Janata members of the
legislative assemblies (MLAs) of all the states increased from 386
to 1,246 seats.
The government also called fresh elections
in the state of Jammu and
Kashmir
, where the Janata party won 13 seats to the
Congress' 11, and the veteran Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdullah returned to power after
having being dismissed in 1953.
Foreign policy
Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the Minister of External Affairs
Atal Bihari Vajpayee began significant changes in India's foreign
policy, moving away from the course adopted by Indira's government.
Both Pakistan and China had celebrated the ouster of Indira Gandhi,
who had preserved a hardline stance against India's rival
neighbours. In 1979, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the
highest-ranking Indian official to visit
Beijing, meeting China's leaders.
The Desai government
re-established diplomatic relations with the People's
Republic of China
, which had been severed due to the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Both
nations established regular dialogue to resolve long-standing
territorial disputes, expand trade and enhance border security.
The Desai
government ended India's support for the guerrillas loyal to
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the
founding leader of Bangladesh
, who had been assassinated in 1975 by military
officers and replaced by a military regime that sought to distance
itself from India.
India
also sought to improve relations with the United States
, which had been strained due to the latter's
support for Pakistan during the 1971 war and India's subsequent
proximity with the Soviet
Union
. The Janata government announced its desire
to achieve "genuine"
non-alignment in the
Cold War, which had been the long-standing national
policy. In 1978,
Jimmy Carter became
the first
U.S. President to make an official visit to India.
Both nations sought to improve trade and expand cooperation in
science and technology. Vajpayee represented India at the U.N.
conference on nuclear disarmament, defending India's nuclear
programme and its refusal to sign non-proliferation treaties.
Economic policy
The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic
reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost
agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote
economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government
required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with
Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing
foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations
such as
Coca-Cola and
IBM from India. But the government was unable to address
the issues of resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and
poverty. The legalisation of strikes and re-empowerment of trade
unions affected business efficiency and economic production.
Fall of the government
Despite a strong start, the Janata government began to wither as
significant ideological and political divisions emerged. The
failing health of Jayaprakash Narayan made it hard for him to
remain politically active and act as a unifying influence, and his
death in 1979 deprived the party of its most popular leader. It was
Raj Narain era in post independence
politics. He denied to become Prime Minister of India and projected
Shri Charan Singh to become the Prime Minister. After division and
when
Raj Narain was expelled from party
for 6 years, there came many MP's with him including Shri Charan
Singh, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan and Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav to name a
few.
Raj Narain was elected chairman of
newly formed party by him named Janta Party(Secular), and
unanimously he was elected leader to sworn in as
Prime Minister of India with the
support of Congress. He denied and offered Shri
Charan Singh to become Prime Minister as
Raj Narain promised him to make Prime
Minister one day, after making him Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh.
It was
Raj Narain who raised the issue of
dual membership of Jansangh members in the party.The party
consisted of veteran socialists, trade unionists and pro-business
leaders, making major economic reforms difficult to achieve without
triggering a public divide. Socialists and secular Janata
politicians shared an aversion to the Hindu nationalist agenda of
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whose members included Vajpayee,
Advani and other leaders from the former BJS. Outbreaks in tensions
and violence between Hindus and Muslims led to a confrontation
within the Janata party, with most Janata leaders demanding that
Vajpayee and Advani choose between staying in government and being
members of the RSS. Both Vajpayee and Advani as well as other
members of the former BJS opted to remain members of the RSS and
consequently resigned from their posts and from the party.
The decline in the popularity of the Janata government was aided by
the stalled prosecution of Emergency-era abuses. The government had
failed to prove most of the allegations and obtained few
convictions. Cases against Indira Gandhi had also stalled for lack
of evidence, and her continued prosecution began to evoke sympathy
for her from the Indian public and anger of her supporters, who saw
it as a "
witch hunt."
Through 1979, support for Morarji Desai had declined considerably
due to worsening economic conditions as well as the emergence of
allegations of nepotism and corruption involving members of his
family. Desai's confrontational attitude eroded his support. His
main rival Charan Singh had developed an acrimonious relationship
with Desai. Protesting Desai's leadership, Singh resigned and
withdrew the support of his BLD. Desai also lost the support of the
secular and socialist politicians in the party, who saw him as
favoring the Hindu nationalist BJS.
On July 19, 1979 Desai resigned from the
government and eventually retired to his home in Mumbai
(then
Bombay).
President Reddy appointed Charan Singh as the Prime Minister,
calling upon him to form a new government and prove his majority.
However, the departure of Desai and the BJS had considerably
diminished Janata's majority, and numerous Janata MPs refused to
support Charan Singh. MPs loyal to Jagjivan Ram withdrew themselves
from the Janata party. Former allies such as the DMK, Shiromani
Akali Dal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had distanced
themselves from the Janata party. Desperately seeking enough
support for a majority, Charan Singh even sought to negotiate with
Congress (I), which refused. After only three weeks in office,
Charan Singh resigned. With no other political party in position to
establish a majority government, President Reddy dissolved the
Parliament and called fresh elections for January 1980.
Demise
In the run-up to the 1980 elections, the remaining Janata party
leaders tried unsuccessfully to rebuild the party and make fresh
alliances. Desai campaigned for the party but did not himself stand
for election, preferring retirement from politics. The Congress (I)
capitalised on the aversion of the Indian public to another fragile
and dysfunctional government by campaigning on the slogan "Elect A
Government That Works!" Indira Gandhi apologised for mistakes made
during the Emergency and won the endorsement of respected national
leaders such as
Vinoba Bhave. At the
polls, the candidates running under the Janata ticket were
resoundingly defeated - the party lost 172 seats, winning only 31.
Indira Gandhi and the Congress (I) were returned to power with a
strong majority. Sanjay Gandhi was also elected to the Parliament.
President Reddy was succeeded at the end of his term in 1982 by
Congress (I) leader
Zail Singh.
Between 1980 and 1989, the Janata party maintained a small presence
in the Indian Parliament under the leadership of socialist
politician
Chandra Sekhar. In 1988,
it merged into the
Janata Dal, which had
emerged as the chief opposition party under the leadership of
Vishwanath Pratap Singh and
the main constituent of the
National Front coalition. Singh had
become widely popular for exposing the role of the government of
Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi, the
youngest son and successor of Indira, in the
Bofors scandal. Under V. P. Singh, the Janata
Dal and the National Front sought to replicate the Janata-style
alliance of anti-Congress political parties. Although it failed to
win a majority, it managed to form a fragile coalition government
with V.P. Singh as the Prime Minister with the outside support of
the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). However,
Singh's government soon fell victim to intra-party rivalries and
power struggles, and his successor Chandra Sekhar's Janata Dal
(Socialist) government lasted barely into 1991.
Legacy
Although its tenure in office was tumultous and unsuccessful, the
Janata party played a definitive role in Indian politics and
history and its legacy remains strong in contemporary India. The
Janata party led a popular movement to restore civil liberties,
evoking the memories and principles of the Indian independence
movement. Its success in ending 30 years of uninterrupted Congress
rule helped strengthen India's multi-party democracy. The term
"Janata" has been used by several major political parties such as
the
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP),
Janata Dal ,
Janata Dal ,
Rashtriya Janata Dal and others.
The name
"Janata Party" continues to be used today by the political party
founded and led by Subramaniam
Swamy, which maintains a small presence in the politics of the
state of Karnataka
and the national stage.
Participants in the struggle against the Emergency and of the
Janata party went on to comprise a new generation of Indian
political leaders. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Inder Kumar Gujral went
on to serve as Prime Ministers; Vajpayee led the first non-Congress
government to complete a full five-year term from 1999 to 2004. Lal
Krishna Advani served as Deputy Prime Minister and presently as the
Leader of the Opposition.
Younger politicians such as
Arun
Jaitley,
Pramod Mahajan,
Sushma Swaraj and others were grass-roots
activists in the Janata party.
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