| Title |
INDIAN DEMOCRACY -
JANATA PARTY |
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Date-wise Events |
- June 12, 1975: Allahabad
High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of using corrupt
electoral practices in her 1971 election victory over Raj
Narain in the Rae Bareli constituency.
- January 23, 1977:
The JANATA PARTY was formed in India on this day as a
coalition in opposition to Congress and emergency rule.
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Description |
- The Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political
parties opposed to the State of Emergency that was imposed
between 1975 and 1977 by the Government of India under the
Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi and her party, the
Indian National Congress (R).
- 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.
- Raj Narain, a socialist leader, had filed a legal writ
alleging electoral malpractice against Indira Gandhi in
1971.
- She was barred from contesting any election for the next
six years.
- Economic problems, corruption and the conviction of
Gandhi led to widespread protests against the Congress (R)
government, which responded by imposing a State of
Emergency.
- The government introduced press censorship, postponed
elections and banned strikes and rallies. Opposition leaders
such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Satyendra Narayan Sinha,
Jivatram Kripalani, Biju Patnaik 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 (O), 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. Narain defeated Gandhi at Rae Bareli in those
elections.
- 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 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 its
legacy. In August 2013, the party was merged with the
Bharatiya Janata Party
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