Since the year 2020 is the Leap year, India will be celebrating 29 February as the birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Following the Black Emergency of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the March 1977 Lok Sabha elections gave a severe setback to Smt. Gandhi whose Indian national Congress lost power at the Centre for the first time in the history of Independent India. Not only her party lost the elections but she herself and her son Sanjay Gandhi too lost the Lok Sabha elections. Morarji Desai, who spoke Mahatma Gandhi’s language and who had been the Union Minister in her father Pandit Nehru’s as well as her own Ministry rose to become the Prime Minister of India. Two old Congressmen Chaudhary Charan Sigh and Babu Jagjivan Ram became the Deputy Prime Ministers in the short-lived Janata Ministry. Of course, the 30 month rule of the Janata government did make a difference as the prices had gone down and people enjoyed the democratic rights though the fundamental right to property was removed from the Constitution and frequent quarrels among the fractions of the Janata Party led to the fall of the government. The Janata Party “committed suicide” in the words of Jay Dubashi, a celebrated economist, and Smt. Gandhi bounce back in 1980.
The Janata Party had odd bed-fellows. Even when they were to choose the leader there were claims and counterclaims. Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan and Acharya Kriplani played a key role to settle for Morarji Desai. Inder Malhotra who closely monitored the political hobnobbing writes : “Charan Singh, a former Congress Chief Minister of the politically key state of Uttar Pradesh and leader of a caste-based party of farmers, argued that since the Janata had won in the northern part of India, he should be the obvious choice for Prime Minister. Jagjivan Ram disputed this and was equally adamant about his claim. After all, he had been a senior member of the cabinets of both Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and was the tallest leader of the Scheduled Castes, at one time called Untouchables and now Dalits or “the oppressed”. It was his resignation from Gandhi’s government and the Congress, he said, that had tipped the electoral scales decisively against her. And then there was Morarji Desai, who had twice missed becoming Prime Minister.”
“Since the squabbling trio could not agree, it was decided to leave the choice to the two grand old men behind the Janata — Jaiprakash Narayan, better known as JP, and Acharya J.B. Kriplani. They settled for Desai. Singh was given the powerful ministry of home affairs. Jagjivan Ram accepted the important portfolio of defence after a show of reluctance. External affairs went to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the leader of the Jana Sangh, which later morphed into the present-day BJP. The fiery socialist and arch-enemy of Gandhi, George Fernandes, was given charge of industries.”
George Fernandes played rather dubious role in bringing down the Janata government. He defended Morarji government in the House and on the very next day changed the side. He entered electoral politics by defeating one of the tallest Congress leaders of Maharashtra of the time, SK Patil, in 1967, earning the sobriquet, the giantkiller. Parliamentary politics aided, rather than hindered his trade union activity. He became leader of a railway union and led a major railway strike in 1974 that saw action in different states. This strike was one of the disruptive agitations across the land against corruption and unemployment that finally led to the imposition of Emergency by the then PM Indira Gandhi. T K Arun writes : “Fernandes had his share of controversies, ranging from delivering thundering speeches for and against the Morarji Desai government within the space of a few days, declaring China to be India’s Enemy Number One, to the Coffin-gate and Tehelka sting operations. Neither charge of financial impropriety could stick. He was married to Lila Kabir till the mid-‘80s, after which Jaya Jaitly was his companion and political aide.”
Jaya Jaitly herself described the political behavior of George saying, “he had defended the government powerfully in Parliament in 1979 upon the request of Prime Minister Morarji Desai.Overnight, he changed his stance, shocking and deeply disappointing his socialist colleagues and the rest of the country. During the night, having tried his utmost to persuade the Left parties headed by Jyoti Basu, and other senior colleagues in government, not to contribute to the imminent collapse of the government, he was subjected to a long political and finally emotional argument by Madhu Limaye. Limaye failed to convince George Fernandes with his ideological arguments to resign on the issue of the Jan Sangh’s dual membership in the RSS. Finally, he lobbed him a big sentimental ball: ‘Do all our years of friendship mean nothing to you?’ he asked. At that point George Fernandes stood up and said, ‘Madhu, if it all comes down to just that, I will submit my resignation tomorrow morning.’ And that is what happened.”
One does not find bitterness in Morarji when he pens down his days in the prison during PM Indira Gandhi’s Emergency. Unlike the political narratives of present day India, Desai respectfully mentions Smt. Gandhi in his autobiography and states: “I am thankful toIndiraben that she gave me a chance to introspect.” Of course, despite some contradictions in Desai, he continues to earn respect frommajority of Indianseven after nearly 25 years after he passed away in 1995 at the age of 99.
Next Column: Jiddu Krishnamurti’s advice to Indira Gandhi
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Both the PMs: Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai
