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{{Short description|Successful socio-political movement in 1974 in Gujarat, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Nav Nirman Movement
| partof =
| image = Navnirman Andolan.jpg
| caption = Protestors stopped and climbed [[Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service|AMTS]] buses in Ahmedabad during the movement.
| date = {{start date|df=yes|1973|12|20}} - {{end date|df=yes|1974|3|16}}
| place = [[Gujarat]], India
| coordinates =
| causes = Economic crisis and corruption in public life
| goals = Resignation of Chief Minister and dissolution of assembly
| methods = [[Protest march]], [[street protest]], [[riot]], [[hunger strike]], [[General strike|strike]]
| status =
| result = [[Gujarat Legislative Assembly|Legislative assembly]] dissolved and fresh elections
| side1 = Nav Nirman Yuvak Samiti
| side2 = [[Indian National Congress]]
| side3 = [[Indian National Congress (Organisation)|Congress (O)]],<br/>[[Bharatiya Jana Sangh|Jan Sangh]]
| leadfigures1 = ''Non-centralized leadership''
| leadfigures2 = [[Chimanbhai Patel]]
| leadfigures3 = [[Morarji Desai]]
| howmany1 =
| howmany2 =
| howmany3 =
| casualties1 =
| casualties2 =
| casualties3 =
| fatalities = At least 100<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/>
| injuries = 1000-3000<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/>
| arrests = 8000<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/>
| detentions =
| charged =
| fined =
| casualties_label = Violence and action
| notes =
}}
'''''Navnirman Andolan''''' (trans. Re-invention or Re-construction movement) was a socio-political movement in 1974 in [[Gujarat]] by students and middle-class people against economic crisis and corruption in public life. It is the only successful agitation in the history of post-independence India that resulted in dissolution of an elected government of the state.<ref name=avk>{{Cite book|last=Ananth|first=V. Krishna|title=India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-3465-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8v7Vr2iQUHkC&pg=PA117|page=117|year=2011}}</ref><ref name=bs>{{Cite book|last=Dhar|first=P. N.|title=Excerpted from 'Indira Gandhi, the "emergency", and Indian democracy' published in ''Business Standard''|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn= 9780195648997|url=http://business-standard.com/india/news/the-nav-nirman-movement/80363/|access-date=23 November 2012|year=2000}}</ref><ref name=it>{{cite news|last=Shah|first=Ghanshyam|title=Pulse of the people|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Pulse+of+the+people/1/2727.html|access-date=22 November 2012|newspaper=India Today|date=20 December 2007}}</ref>

==Incidents==
[[Chimanbhai Patel]] became the chief minister of Gujarat in July 1973 replacing [[Ghanshyam Oza]]. There were allegations of corruption against him.<ref name=avk/> The urban middle class was facing economic crisis due to the high price of food.<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/><ref name=it/>

===Early student protests===
On 20 December 1973, students of [[Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering|L.D. College of Engineering]], Ahmedabad went on strike in protest against a 20% hike in hostel food fees.<ref name=ps>{{Cite book|last=jain|first=Arun Kumar|title=Political Science|publisher=FK Publication|isbn= 9788189611866|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSyrb3du-iwC&q=navnirman+gujarat&pg=RA1-PA114|page=114|year=1978}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.loksatta.com/ladha-chalvali-andolan-news/role-of-womens-in-indias-sturggle-for-freedom-1249065/|title=नवनिर्माणांच्या शिल्पकार|date=2016-06-11|work=Loksatta|access-date=2017-08-02|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170802120243/http://www.loksatta.com/ladha-chalvali-andolan-news/role-of-womens-in-indias-sturggle-for-freedom-1249065/|archive-date=2 August 2017|url-status=dead|language=mr-IN|trans-title=Architect of Navnirman Movement}}</ref> The same type of strike also organised on 3 January 1974 at [[Gujarat University]] resulted in clashes between police and students which provoked students across Gujarat. An indefinite strike started on 7 January in educational institutions. Their demands were related to food and education.<ref name=it/> Middle-class people and some factory workers also joined protests in [[Ahmedabad]]; they also attacked some ration shops.<ref name=avk/> Students, lawyers and professors formed a committee, later known as the Nav Nirman Yuvak Samiti, to voice grievances and guide protests.<ref name=avk/><ref name=it/>

Protesters demanded Chimanbhai Patel's resignation. A strike on 10 January became violent in Ahmedabad and [[Vadodara]] for two days.<ref name=it/> A statewide strike was organised on 25 January 1974 and resulted in clashes between police and people at least in 33 towns.<ref name=avk/> The government imposed a curfew in 44 towns and the agitation spread throughout Gujarat.<ref name=it/> The army was called in to restore peace in [[Ahmedabad]] on 28 January 1974.<ref name=avk/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31805&articlexml=1974-India-inspired-by-Gujarat-uprising-18022017514009|title=1974: India inspired by Gujarat uprising|date=2017-02-18|website=The Times of India|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802122139/http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31805&articlexml=1974-India-inspired-by-Gujarat-uprising-18022017514009|archive-date=2017-08-02|url-status=dead|access-date=2017-08-02}}</ref>

===Political incidents===

Due to the pressure of the protests, [[Indira Gandhi]], then the Prime Minister of India, asked Chimanbhai Patel to resign. He resigned on 9 February.<ref name=bs/><ref name=it/><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Bhagat-Ganguly|first=Varsha|title=Revisiting the Nav Nirman Andolan of Gujarat|journal=Sociological Bulletin|language=en|volume=63|issue=1|pages=95–112|doi=10.1177/0038022920140106|year=2014|s2cid=185751051}}</ref> The governor suspended the state assembly and imposed [[president's rule]]. Opposition parties demanded dissolution of the state assembly.<ref name=avk/> [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] had 140 of 167 MLAs in [[Gujarat Legislative Assembly|state assembly]]. The resignation of 15 [[Indian National Congress (Organisation)|Congress (O)]] MLAs on 16 February<ref name=avk/> triggered the next phase of the agitation. Three [[Jan Sangh]] MLAs also resigned. By March, students had gotten 95 of 167 to resign. Morarji Desai, leader of [[Congress (O)]], went on an indefinite fast on 12 March in support of the demand. On 16 March, the assembly was dissolved, bringing an end to the agitation.<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/><ref name=it/><ref name=":0" />

At least 100 died, 1,000 to 3,000 were injured, and 8,000 were arrested during the movement.<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/>

===Consequences===
Nav Nirman Yuvak Samiti demanded fresh elections and opposition parties supported this. Morarji Desai again went on an indefinite fast on 6 April 1975 to support it.<ref name=avk/> Finally Indira Gandhi gave in; fresh elections were held on 10 June and the result was declared on 12 June 1975. The verdict on Indira Gandhi's [[Indira Gandhi#Verdict on electoral malpractice|electoral malpractice]] was declared the same day which later resulted in [[The Emergency (India)|the Emergency]].<ref name=avk/> Meanwhile, Chimanbhai Patel formed a new party named Kisan Mazdoor Lok Paksh and contested on his own. [[Indian National Congress|Congress]], which won only 75 seats, lost the elections. Coalition of Congress (O), [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh|Jan Sangh]], PSP and [[Bharatiya Lok Dal|Lok Dal]] known as [[Janata Morcha]] won 88 seats and [[Babubhai J. Patel]] became Chief Minister. This government lasted nine months and president's rule was imposed in March 1976.<ref name=bs/> [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] won elections in December 1976 and [[Madhav Singh Solanki]] became Chief Minister.<ref name=avk/><ref name=bs/>

==Aftermath==
[[Jayaprakash Narayan]] visited Gujarat on 11 February 1974, after Chimanbhai Patel's resignation, though he was not involved in the movement. The [[Bihar Movement]] had already begun in [[Bihar]]. It inspired him to lead it and turn it into a total revolution movement, which resulted in the Emergency.<ref name=avk/><ref name=it/> Later [[Janata Morcha]] became precursor of the [[Janata Party]], which formed the first non-Congress government winning the general election against [[Indira Gandhi]] in 1977, and [[Morarji Desai]] became Prime Minister.<ref name=bs/><ref name="ING">{{cite book|title=Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi|pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/371 371]|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|author=Katherine Frank|year=2002|isbn=978-0-395-73097-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/371}}</ref><ref name="LOC">{{cite web|title=The Rise of Indira Gandhi|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+in0029)|publisher=[[Library of Congress]] Country Studies|access-date=2009-06-27}}</ref>

Congress formed a new caste-based election combination known as [[KHAM theory|KHAM]] (Kshtriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim) to elevate them in politics. The upper caste sensed it as the end of their political importance and reacted strongly against the imposition of Reservations in 1981.<ref name=ps/> This ultimately provoked the [[Mandal Commission protests of 1990|anti-Mandal riots]] in 1985, which helped the rise of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) in Gujarat.<ref name=jr>{{cite journal| last= Sanghavi|first= Nagindas|editor-last= Mehta|editor-first= Nalin| editor2-last= Mehta|editor2-first= Mona G.|title=From Navnirman to the anti-Mandal riots: the political trajectory of Gujarat (1974–1985)|journal= South Asian History and Culture|trans-title=Gujarat Beyond Gandhi: Identity, Conflict and Society|series=Issue 4|volume=1|issue= 4|date= 15 October 2010| doi= 10.1080/19472498.2010.507021| pages= 480–493|s2cid= 144157465}}</ref>

[[Chimanbhai Patel]] became chief minister again with [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] support in 1990.<ref name=avk/>

The agitation helped local leaders of [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] and its student organization [[Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad|ABVP]] to establish themselves in politics. [[Narendra Modi]] who later served as the [[Chief Minister of Gujarat]] from 2001 to 2014, and was subsequently elected as the [[Prime Minister of India]] in 2014, was one of them.<ref name=avk/>

==Significance==
The Navnirman movement reflected the anger of middle-class people and students at the prevalent economic crisis and corruption in government. It also showed the people's power to change the government by forcing it to resign by protesting.<ref name=avk/><ref name=":0" />

==See also==
* [[Bihar movement]]
* [[Jayaprakash Narayan]]
* [[The Emergency (India)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
| last = Krishna
| first = Ananth V.
| title = India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics
| publisher = Pearson Education India
| date = 1 September 2011
| isbn = 9788131734650
| page = 117 }}
* {{cite book
| last = Sheth
| first = Pravin N.
| title = Nav Nirman & political change in India: from Gujarat 1974 to New Delhi 1977
| publisher = Vora
| year = 1977
}}

[[Category:1973 protests]]
[[Category:1974 protests]]
[[Category:History of Gujarat (1947–present)]]
[[Category:Protests in India]]
[[Category:Social movements in India]]
[[Category:1973 in India]]
[[Category:1974 in India]]
[[Category:Student protests in India]]
[[Category:Anti-corruption activism in India]]

Navnirman Andolan - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article