Else, a credible alternative to the new centre in Indian politics would remain a day dream. Jetty swears in Morarji Desai, leader of the Janata Party parliamentary party as Prime Minister to head the first non-Congress Union ministry on March 24, 1977.
That was the time when the Indian voter held her head high among the world community for throwing out an elected government and its leader, who started identifying herself with the nation, and coerced the political system into silence, let alone a whisper of dissent. But, the Janata period witnessed certain irreversible changes in India’s political history. The majoritarian religious answer to this was Mandir politics and of late, social re-engineering of caste combinations with high resonating Hindutva slogans with development as the sugar coating on these. JP, as he was popularly called, was put in solitary confinement in Chandigarh during the Emergency and was released on account of fragile health.But the events moved fast and opposition parties like Congress (O), Jan Sangh, Socialists and Bharatiya Lok Dal merged to form Janata Party and contested on the electoral symbol of Lok Dal, the farmer with a plough in a wheel. The wheel of political change was set in motion and several leaders from Congress, led by Jagjivan Ram, came out of the party and allied with Janata party. The pyramidal vote base of the Congress with upper castes at the top and Dalits at the bottom broke up and middle ranking communities became increasingly assertive as a vote base. In the short span of two years, during which the Janata remained in office, bickering over leadership continued unabated and finally led to the collapse of the government. The regime feared international political opinion turning adverse in the event of JP dying as a prisoner of conscience. This exercise was done by JP and Acharya J B Kripalani. This was implemented by V P Singh in 1990 and since then the electoral equations in the Gangetic plain changed substantially. The Janata’s counter narrative was magnetic and catchier, ‘Democracy v Dictatorship’ and ‘Bread with Liberty’. The country now needs an effective opposition. But 1977 was no ordinary election. Declaration and extension of Emergency was restricted by amending the Constitution.On the contrary, Janata Party had a number of leaders with Prime Ministerial ambitions.
Chandigarh28150 Meghalaya1201 Puducherry840 Goa770 Manipur220 Tripura220 Mizoram100 Arunachal Pradesh110 India, All India India’s second tryst THE ASIAN AGE.The early bickering in Janata party was also connected with socialists and Chaudhary Charan Singh resenting the dual membership of erstwhile Jan Sangh leaders in Sangh Parivar organisations and reservation for Other Backward Classes (implemented in Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur). Right to Property was removed from Fundamental Rights and made a legal right. It is the 40th anniversary of the first non-Congress government’s assumption of office at the Centre.The euphoria of March 1977 was unparalleled and it also went to substantiate the old adage that “The best day after a revolution is the first day”.After the victory, the most difficult choice was the selection of the Prime Minister. The mantle fell on Morarji Desai, who was earlier the Deputy Prime Minister. There was an ocean of difference between the Janata and the Congress. This was later implemented by the Congress government in a different form. The civil liberties-centric campaign, led by JP, had an electric effect in whole of North India but the wind blew very mildly in the South. | R MOHAN Published: Mar 25, 2017, 1:47 am IST Updated: Mar 25, 2017, 6:39 am IST The Janata government also initiated serious moves toward decentralised democracy by appointing a panel headed by Asok Mehta.
The government of the day got the supreme confidence of winning the China Material Handling Equipment Parts wholesale polls based on its agencies’ reports regarding public mood. Tallest among them was Jayaprakash Narayan.The majoritarian agenda, which has now successfully countered this, has become the main pole of Indian politics. Mr Desai resigned on July 15, 1979 due to internal bickering in his party. Morarji Desai, in his broadcast to the nation, declared that the clouds of fear had lifted and the citizen need not fear the midnight knock as she/ he had to during the Emergency. More than a transfer of power, it was a peaceful ballot revolution.D. The latter was a party with one unchallenged leader and the rest compliant followers, who only fought among themselves, but never dared to question the supreme leader. It has to honestly tell people that its earlier politics had flaws and redraw its economic policy menu with a pro-people agenda.In short, the brief tenure in office of the first non-Congress government at the Centre had several lasting consequences for Constitutional democracy and social regrouping which formed the base for identity politics. For this, Congress has to reinvent itself and exorcise the ghosts of the past.The biggest achievement of the Janata’s two-year period was the restoration of democratic features of the Constitution, which were sought to be obliterated during the Emergency. Later, the Indira regime relaxed the internal emergency and declared elections.The country and the politics were under a different environment those days.The Janata government also initiated serious moves toward decentralised democracy by appointing a committee, headed by veteran socialist intellectual Asoka Mehta. This put paid to the attempts to encroach into the domain of rights to life and liberty in the guise of framing progressive legislations.Another contribution, on which the societal opinion is sharply divided, is the appointment of Mandal commission. Acting President B.
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