Janata Party: Difference between revisions

|colorcode        = {{Janata Party/meta/color}}

* [[Bharatiya Lok Dal]]

* [[Centrism|Centre]] to [[center-right]]

women=Janata Mahila Morcha|Slogan=Janata se Janata ke liye|merged=|party_logo=Janata Party symbol.png|Image=[[Janata Party 300.jpg]]|eci=}}

The '''Janata Party''' ('''JP''', translation: ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to [[The Emergency (India)|the Emergency]] that was imposed between 1975 to 1977 by Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]] of the [[Indian National Congress]]. In the [[1977 Indian general election|1977 general election]], the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader [[Morarji Desai]] became the first non-Congress prime minister in [[history of the Republic of India|independent modern India's history]].

  | access-date = 31 August 2015}}</ref> 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 [[Parliament of India|Indian Parliament]]. Narain defeated Gandhi at [[Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|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 [[Charan Singh|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.<ref name="thehindu.com">{{cite news| url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/swamy-merges-janata-party-with-bjp/article5013018.ece | location=Chennai, India | work=The Hindu | first=K. | last=Balchand | title=Swamy merges Janata Party with BJP | date=11 August 2013}}</ref><ref name="articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com">{{cite news| url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-11/india/41294260_1_subramanian-swamy-bjp-rajnath-singh | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815030826/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-11/india/41294260_1_subramanian-swamy-bjp-rajnath-singh | url-status=dead | archive-date=2013-08-15 | work=[[The Times of India]] | title=The Times of India: Latest News India, World & Business News, Cricket & Sports, Bollywood}}</ref><ref name="ndtv.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/subramanian-swamys-janata-party-merges-with-bharatiya-janata-party-531295|title=Subramanian Swamy's Janata Party merges with Bharatiya Janata Party|website=NDTV.com}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="Congress">{{cite web|title=The Congress|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+in0159)|publisher=[[Library of Congress]] Country Studies|access-date=5 July 2009}}</ref> Supporters of Indira Gandhi claimed to be the real Congress party, adopting the name [[Indian National Congress (R)]] – where "R" stood for "Requisition."<ref name="Congress" /> Congress politicians who opposed Indira identified themselves as the [[Indian National Congress (Organisation)|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;<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=27 June 2009}}</ref> Indira's Congress (R) won a large majority in the 1971 elections and her popularity increased significantly after India's victory in the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|war of 1971]] against Pakistan.<ref name="LOC" />

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.<ref name="LOC" /><ref name="ING" /><ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite news|title=OBITUARY: Morarji Desai|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-morarji-desai-1615165.html|publisher=[[The Independent]]|author=Kuldip Singh|date=11 April 1995|access-date=27 June 2009|location=London}}</ref> 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.<ref name="LOC" />

On 25 June 1975, the [[President of India]], [[Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed]], accepted prime minister [[Indira Gandhi]]'s recommendation to declare a state of national emergency.<ref name="UK">{{cite news|title=OBITUARY: Morarji Desai|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-morarji-desai-1615165.html|publisher=The Independent|first=Kuldip |last=Singh|date=11 April 1995|access-date=27 June 2009|location=London}}</ref><ref name="LOC" /> Indira argued that the political and civil disorder constituted a threat to national security.<ref name="ING2">{{cite book|title=Indira: The Life Of Indira Nehru Gandhi|pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/377 377]|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|author=Katherine Frank|year=2002|isbn=978-0-395-73097-3|url=https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/377}}</ref> A state of emergency enabled the central government to issue executive decrees without requiring the consent of Parliament.<ref name="LOC" /> Elections were postponed and public gatherings, rallies and strikes were banned. Curfews were imposed and police forces were empowered to make warrantless searches, seizures and arrests. Indira's government imposed "President's rule" in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, dismissing the governments controlled by opposition political parties.<ref name="LOC" /> The central government also imposed censorship on radio, television and newspapers. Across the country, police forces arrested thousands of opposition political activists, as well as leaders such as [[Raj Narain]], [[Jayaprakash Narayan]], [[Jivatram Kripalani]], [[Kamaraj]], [[Morarji Desai]], [[Satyendra Narayan Sinha]], [[Vijay Raje Scindhia]], [[Charan Singh]], [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]], [[Lal Krishna Advani]] and others.<ref name="UK" /><ref name="LOC" /> Opposition political organizations such as the Hindu nationalist [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS) and the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] were banned and their leaders arrested.<ref name="ING3">{{cite book|title=Indira: The Life Of Indira Nehru Gandhi|pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/382 382]|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|author=Katherine Frank|year=2002|isbn=978-0-395-73097-3|url=https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/382}}</ref> Only the [[Communist Party of India]] supported the state of emergency.<ref name="ING3" /> Due to the advancing age and failing health, Narayan was released from prison, but remained prohibited from political activity.

During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi implemented a 20-point program of economic reforms that resulted in greater economic growth, aided by the absence of strikes and trade union conflicts. Encouraged by these positive signs and distorted and biased information from her party supporters, Indira called elections for May 1977.<ref name="POI2">{{cite book|title=The Politics of India Since Independence|authors=Paul R. Brass|pages=40–50|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1994|isbn=978-0-521-45970-9}}</ref> However, the emergency era had been widely unpopular. The most controversial issue was the 42nd amendment to the [[Constitution of India]], which deprived citizens of direct access to the Supreme Court, except when violation of the fundamental rights resulted from Union law. The Parliament was given unrestrained power to amend any parts of the Constitution. The Supreme Court was given exclusive jurisdiction as regards determination of the constitutional validity of laws passed by the Union government. It restricted the power of the courts to issue stay orders or injunctions. Almost all parts of the Constitution saw changes through this amendment. The clampdown on civil liberties and allegations of widespread abuse of human rights by police had angered the public. Indira Gandhi was believed, by the public at large to be under the influence of a clique of politicians led by her youngest son, [[Sanjay Gandhi]], who had become notorious for using his influence in the government and the [[Congress (R)]] for alleged corrupt activities. [[Sanjay Gandhi]] had masterminded the Union government's unpopular campaign of family planning, which had allegedly involved forcible sterilization of young men by government officials.<ref name="LOC" /> Sanjay Gandhi had also instigated the demolition of slums in the [[Jama Masjid, Delhi|Jama Masjid]] area of New Delhi, the national capital, which left thousands of people, mostly Muslims, homeless.<ref name="LOC" /><ref name="POI2" /> Indian laborers, urban workers, teachers and government employees were also disenchanted by wage freezes and the curtailing of trade union activities and rights.<ref name="LOC" /><ref name="POI2" />

{{quote|a choice between freedom and slavery; between democracy and dictatorship; between abdicating the power of the people and asserting it; between the [[Gandhism|Gandhian path]] and the way that has led many nations down the precipice of dictatorship, instability, military adventure and national ruin.<ref name="E">{{cite book|title=320 Million Judges|author=G. G. Mirchandani|pages=98–126|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=2003|isbn=81-7017-061-3}}</ref>}}

As it became clear that Indira's Emergency rule had been widely unpopular, defections from the [[Congress (R)]] government increased. The most significant was that of [[Jagjivan Ram]], who commanded great support amongst India's [[Dalit]] communities. A former Minister of Defence, Ram left the [[Congress (R)]] and along with his supporters formed the [[Congress for Democracy]] on 2 February 1977.<ref name="B">{{cite book|title=320 Million Judges|author=G. G. Mirchandani|pages=90–100|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=2003|isbn=81-7017-061-3}}</ref> Other co-founders included the former [[List of Chief Ministers of Odisha|Chief Minister of Orissa]] [[Nandini Satpathy]], former Union Minister of State for Finance K. R. Ganesh, former [[Member of Parliament|MP]] D. N. Tiwari and Bihar politician Raj Mangal Pandey.<ref name="B" />

* [[Congress (R)]] Rebels like [[Chandra Shekhar]], [[Krishan Kant]], [[Ram Dhan]], [[Mohan Dharia]], [[Chandrajit Yadav]], [[Lakshmi Kanthamma]]