Janata Party
The Janata Party (JP, lit. 'People's Party') is an unrecognized political party in India.[4] It was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.[5]
Not to be confused with Bharatiya Janata Party.
Janata Party
JP
Navneet Chaturvedi
23 January 1977
Janata Yuva Morcha
Janata Mahila Morcha
Janata se Janata ke liye जनता से जनता के लिए
Registered Unrecognised Political Party
Raj Narain, a socialist leader, had filed a legal writ alleging electoral malpractice against Indira Gandhi in 1971. On 12 June 1975, Allahabad High Court found her guilty of using corrupt electoral practices in her 1971 election victory over Narain in the Rae Bareli constituency. 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 rationale was that of preserving national security. However, the government introduced press censorship, postponed elections and banned strikes and rallies. Opposition leaders such as Jivatram Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, Anantram Jaiswal, Chandra Shekhar, Biju Patnaik, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Raj Narain, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Ramnandan Mishra and Morarji Desai were imprisoned,[6] 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 Indian National Congress 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 became Prime Minister of India. He remained in office for 23 days until Congress(I) 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. After Jaiprakash Bandhu now Navneet Chaturvedi is the president of Janata Party since November 2021.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
History[edit]
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 1969 over the issue of the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.[15] 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 (O) – 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;[16] 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.[16]
However Indira's subsequent inability to address serious issues such as unemployment, poverty, inflation and shortages eroded her popularity.[16] 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, Acharya Kripalani 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 11 June 1975.[16][17]
Raj Narain, a leader of the Socialist Party (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 12 June 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.[16][17][18] Opposition politicians immediately demanded her resignation and stepped up mass protests against the government. On 25 June, 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.[16]
Fall of the government[edit]
Despite a strong start, the Janata government began to wither as significant ideological and political divisions emerged.[16] The party consisted of veteran socialists, trade unionists and pro-business leaders, making major economic reforms difficult to achieve without triggering a public divide.[16] 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 Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Violence between Hindus and Muslims led to further confrontations within the Janata party, with most Janata leaders demanding that Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna 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."[18]
In June 1978, Raj Narain attacked party president Chandra Shekhar and Bharatiya Jana Sangh. On 16 June 1978, Charan Singh announced his resignation from Janata Party parliamentary board. Janata Party parliamentary board which met on 22 June 1978 issued show-cause notices to Raj Narain, Devi Lal, Ram Dhan, Jabbar Singh and Sibhan Lal Saxena.[28] On 1 July 1978, Charan Singh resigned from the cabinet of Morarji Desai because of growing differences between them over trial of Indira Gandhi.[29][30] On 24 January 1979, Charan Singh returned into cabinet and held portfolios of Minister of Finance and becoming Deputy Prime Minister.[31][29] Hirubhai M. Patel was shifted from Finance ministry to Home Ministry.[32]
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.[18] His main rival Charan Singh had developed an acrimonious relationship with Desai.[25] Protesting Desai's leadership, Singh resigned and withdrew the support of his Bharatiya Lok Dal. Desai also lost the support of the secular and socialist politicians in the party, who saw him as favoring the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh.[16] On 19 July 1979 Desai resigned from the government and eventually retired to his home in Mumbai (then Bombay).[18] 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. Dissidents projected Charan Singh as the new prime minister in place of Desai.
President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy appointed Charan Singh as the Prime Minister of a minority government on the strength of 64 MPs, calling upon him to form a new government and prove his majority. 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.[16]
In 1980 general elections, Janata Party declared Jagjivan Ram as its Prime Ministerial candidate, but the party won only 31 seats out of 542.[33]
Status[edit]
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) capitalized on the aversion of the Indian public to another fragile and dysfunctional government by campaigning on the slogan "Elect A Government That Works!"[16] Indira Gandhi apologized 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) 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.(RUPPS).
Between 1980 and 1989, the Janata party maintained a small presence in the Indian Parliament under the leadership of socialist politician Chandra Sekhar.[51] In 1988, Lok Dal (A) was merged into Janata Party and Ajit Singh was made its president.[52] After some months, 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.[51] Singh had become widely popular for exposing the role of the government of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the eldest son and successor of Indira, in the Bofors scandal, though on 5 February 2004, the Delhi High Court quashed the charges of bribery against Rajiv Gandhi and others.[51][53]
But some leaders of Janata Party refused to accept its merger into Janata Dal and continued in Janata Party.[54][55] These included Indubhai Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Syed Shahabuddin, H. D. Deve Gowda, Sarojini Mahishi.[54][56] On 4 January 1989, Indubhai Patel was declared as acting president of Janata Party.[57] Janata Dal filed an application to Election Commission of India to seek the transfer of Janata Party symbol to its own.[58] But the Election Commission froze the symbol chakra–haldhar for 1989 general election and as a result, Janata Dal had to use wheel as their election symbol.[59] Janata Party continue to retain its status as unrecognised registered party with Election Commission of India and retains its symbole of chakra-haldhar.[60]
Under V. P. Singh, the Janata Dal and the National Front sought to replicate the Janata-style alliance of anti-Congress political parties.[51] 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).[51] 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.[51]
Legacy[edit]
Although its tenure in office was tumultuous 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 Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal and others.
Participants in the struggle against the Indian Emergency (1975–77) and of the Janata party went on to comprise a new generation of Indian political leaders. Chandra Shekhar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deve Gowda 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. Younger politicians such as Subramanian Swamy, Arun Jaitley, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and others were grass-roots activists in the Janata party.
The Janata Party continued to exist led by Subramanian Swamy, which maintained a small presence in the politics of the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Delhi and at the national stage. Janata party continued its lead as opposition in AP until the formation of TDP party, due to prominent leaders such as Jaipal Reddy, Babul Reddy and T. Gajula Narasaiah.