The Janata Party Years, 1977-80

At a Glance

• Prime Minister Morarji Desai, sworn in 23 March 1977
• Fall Desai resigned July 1979; Charan Singh never faced Parliament
• Amendments 43rd (1977) and 44th (1978)
• Next election January 1980; Congress (I) returned
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: India After Nehru

Where Does It Fit?

This is the fourth topic of the category on India after Nehru. The previous topic covered the 1971 war. This topic covers the Janata Party years from 1977 to 1980. The next topic covers Indira Gandhi’s second phase and Punjab. Previous topic: Indo-Pak War of 1971 and the Birth of Bangladesh.

How Did the Janata Government Begin?

The Janata Party, contesting under the symbol of a farmer with a plough, a chakra-haldhar, and with its allies, won a large majority in 1977, as described in Indira Gandhi, 1966-77: Political Developments and Socio-Economic Policies. Three leaders sought the Prime Minister’s post: Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram. The choice was left to Acharya Kripalani and Jayaprakash Narayan, who chose Desai, and he took the oath on 23 March 1977. Charan Singh, minister of home affairs and later finance, and Jagjivan Ram, defence minister, were deputy Prime Ministers.

The Janata Party felt that the states ruled by the Congress should also face fresh elections, so those assemblies were dissolved and elections held in June 1977. The Janata Party formed governments in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, and in coalition with the Akali Dal in Punjab. In Tamil Nadu the AIADMK under M.G. Ramachandran won, and its government pioneered the midday meal scheme for schoolchildren, especially girls. In West Bengal, left parties won a good majority with the CPM prominent, and Jyoti Basu became Chief Minister, with agrarian reforms that benefited many poor peasants. In Jammu and Kashmir, assembly elections held after the dissolution of the assembly gave Sheikh Abdullah’s revived National Conference a comfortable majority in the first truly fair and free polls since independence, though the Valley and Jammu showed different support. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected President in June 1977 after the death of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in February.

What Did the Janata Government Do to Restore Democracy?

An enduring contribution was the restoration of democratic rights. Press censorship was removed and several decrees were repealed. Under the law minister Shanti Bhushan, amendments were made to undo the 42nd Amendment, described in Indira Gandhi, 1966-77: Political Developments and Socio-Economic Policies.

Why Did the Government Lose Its Way?

The government began with full popular support, but marked differences on ideology and politics appeared, and the attention some leaders gave to revenge against Indira Gandhi revived her popularity. The Shah Commission, headed by the retired Supreme Court judge J.C. Shah, inquired into the excesses of the Emergency, but most allegations could not be proved and few convictions followed. In May 1977 in Belchi, Bihar, a mob of upper-caste men burnt Harijans to death in a dispute over land, reflecting a rise in caste violence as backward castes enriched by the Green Revolution and the White Revolution gained land and political power while younger Harijans resisted ill treatment. Indira Gandhi travelled to Belchi, the last stretch on an elephant, and showed sympathy, which showed the Janata government as callous and built her image as a friend of the poor. Charan Singh’s single-minded pursuit of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay worked in her favour: she was arrested on vague corruption charges in a case and released the next day by a magistrate who found the charges insubstantial.

The Congress split again in January 1978, with Indira Gandhi’s group becoming the Congress (I). It won the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh state elections, and she won the Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat. A parliamentary committee found that she had misled the House on the Maruti enterprise and the House ordered her to jail and disqualified her, but she won again from Chikmagalur, and was seen as the victim of a witch hunt. The antagonism between Desai and Charan Singh, who was unhappy at being second, grew; Desai dismissed Charan Singh and Raj Narain in mid-1978, Charan Singh organised a farmers’ march in December 1978 and was brought back in February 1979 as finance minister and deputy Prime Minister. The Socialists sided with Charan Singh and the Jana Sangh with Desai, and the issue of dual membership of the RSS by Jana Sangh members, who considered it a cultural body, split the party. The Socialists and Charan Singh’s party left the coalition, which became a minority government, and Desai resigned in July 1979.

Charan Singh then took Congress support to form a government and was sworn in at the end of July. He addressed the nation from the Red Fort on Independence Day but never faced Parliament, because a day before the confidence vote Indira Gandhi withdrew support when he would not disband the special courts set up to prosecute her. The Lok Sabha was dissolved and Charan Singh remained caretaker Prime Minister until the January 1980 elections. As an analytical point, the Janata experience showed how a coalition built on opposition to one leader finds it hard to hold when that task is over.

What Were Its Economic and Foreign Policies?

The Janata Party contained veteran socialists, trade unionists and pro-business leaders, so major economic reforms were hard, and with Charan Singh prominent, agriculture and the rural sector got importance. The Sixth Five-Year Plan for 1978-83 replaced the curtailed Fifth Plan as a rolling plan, in which a plan is made at three levels, the annual budget, a slightly longer plan with flexible priorities, and a perspective plan for ten to twenty years, so targets can be revised but are hard to meet. Industry minister George Fernandes pushed self-reliance and indigenous industry and forced multinational companies such as Coca-Cola and IBM to leave, which reduced foreign investment, while inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty were not tackled. The Food for Work programme was launched in April 1977 to pay rural workers in food grains. Madhu Dandavate as railway minister reduced corruption in reservations and cushioned the sleeper class seats.

In foreign relations, the government tried to improve ties with the United States, and Jimmy Carter was the first US President to visit India after Eisenhower, but it insisted on genuine non-alignment and maintained cordial relations with the Soviet Union. Vajpayee, as foreign minister, defended India’s nuclear programme and refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty at the UN. In 1979 Vajpayee became the highest-ranking Indian official to visit Beijing, and diplomatic ties with China, suspended since 1962, were restored, with an agreement to hold regular talks on the territorial dispute. Relations with China before this are in Panchsheel agreement 1954 Asylum Dalai Lama…">India and China, 1947-62.

What Social Changes Marked the Late 1970s?

Ramachandra Guha observes that the late 1970s saw a churn in political and social terms: politicians seemed to abandon ideology for expediency and the polity fragmented, while oppressed sections began to assert themselves. New social movements, feminist and environmentalist, appeared, trade unions spread to new areas such as mines, offset printing helped newspapers spread, investigative journalism began, and a civil liberties movement became active. The OBCs, who had gained economic power through the Green Revolution and land reform, now sought a place in the administration. In January 1979 the Janata government appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission under Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, a former Chief Minister of Bihar, to consider whether jobs in the central administration should be reserved for OBCs. Its report is dealt with in V.P. Singh, Mandal Commission and the Chandra Shekhar Government.

How Did the Janata Rule End?

The elections to the Seventh Lok Sabha in January 1980 were contested by the Congress (I), Congress (U), the Lok Dal founded by Charan Singh and the Socialists, and the Janata, now consisting mainly of the Jana Sangh and old Congressmen like Jagjivan Ram and Chandra Shekhar. The Janata Party again campaigned on threats to democracy, but Indira Gandhi dropped ideology and offered a government that could govern. The people, tired of the Janata’s lack of governance and quarrels, gave the Congress led by Indira Gandhi a clear mandate. The Janata Party later broke into the Janata Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and others. The Janata government had been the first non-Congress government at the Centre and the first coalition at that level. Her second term is in Indira Gandhi, 1980-84: Punjab Turmoil and Operation Blue Star.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• First non-Congress government A landmark in the party system
• 43rd and 44th Amendments Standard Prelims and Polity questions
• Causes of collapse Dual membership and leadership rivalry are frequent mains points

What Came Next?

The next topic covers Indira Gandhi’s second phase, the Punjab crisis and Operation Blue Star. Next topic: Indira Gandhi, 1980-84: Punjab Turmoil and Operation Blue Star.

Key People and Terms

• Morarji Desai First non-Congress Prime Minister
• Shah Commission Inquiry into the excesses of the Emergency
• Dual membership Janata members’ ties with the RSS
• Rolling plan Flexible Sixth Plan of 1978-83
• Mandal Commission Second Backward Classes Commission, January 1979
• Belchi 1977 massacre of Harijans in Bihar

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about the successes and failures of the Janata experiment. These points add depth.

• Gains Civil liberties and constitutional repair
• Failures Rivalry and dual membership
• Result Return of the Congress