6thLok Sabha1977 – 1980
‘The Janata Experiment’
In the aftermath of the Emergency, disillusioned voters ejected the Congress from power and elected the Janata Party, led by Morarji Desai. Internal conflict destabilised the new government too.
The house of the people
Opposition parties formed an unlikely coalition: including the Jan Sangh, Congress (O), Bharatiya Lok Dal, Socialist party of PSP and SSP, Swatantra Party and the newly formed Congress for Democracy — under the leadership of Jaya Prakash Narayan. Mr. Narayan left Congress in 1948 and formed the Praja Socialist Party in 1952. He emerged as a fierce critic of Mrs. Gandhi during this election.
The elections saw a stunning reversal in Congress’s fortune, making this the first General Election where the Indian National Congress failed to collect the majority of votes. From 350 seats, it now held only 154. Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD) bagged the highest share of seats (295), followed by the INC (154) and CPM (22). Congress was obliviated from several Hindi States, including its bastion Uttar Pradesh. Opposition overtook Congress even in Bombay, the latter’s birthplace. Mrs. Gandhi lost to Raj Narain from her seat in Rae Bareli; Sanjay Gandhi lost to Janata Party’s Ravindra Pratap Singh from the Congress stronghold of Amethi.
Morarji Desai, the Chairman of the Janata Party, became India’s first non-Congress Prime Minister, at the age of 81. Also eyeing the position was Jagjivan Ram, the Chairman of the Congress for Democracy. Mr. Ram, snubbed from the post, did not join the new government. Mr. Desai was an “authentic Gandhian”, veteran Congressman and freedom fighter who would ensure a “continuity of tradition and policy”, The Hindu commented in an editorial. Sometimes seen as “domineering, inflexible and intolerant”, Mr. Desai held “rich and varied administrative experience” and carried a “reputation for incorruptibility”.
The politics
Anger shaped the momentum in the run-up and during the sixth Lok Sabha; anger against Mrs. Gandhi’s repressing Emergency imposition and family planning measures that reportedly used coercion and force on helpless young people. A “silent revolution” overtook the Congress MPs,
The Janata Party attracted support from professors, lawyers, and students. Communal tensions “were set aside temporarily” with Muslims voting for Jan Sangh candidates and RSS workers campaigning for Janata Party Muslim candidates. This fractured the Congress vote further, who depended on the traditional Harijan and Muslim votes. Mr. Ram’s exit from Congress split the Harijan vote to a certain extent. Opposition leaders who were targets during the Emergency, such as George Fernandes, Jyotirmoy Bosu, Madu Limaye, and Karpuri Thakur, won.
Congress still held sway over the southern States including Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Urban women also voted in significant numbers for the Congress. Mrs. Gandhi won a Lok Sabha byelection in Chikmagalur in Karnataka.
Arif Beg, a Janata Party candidate, said the 1977 election was “not an election, it is a revolution.” An editorial said the sixth Lok Sabha was “advancing towards a virtually two-party parliamentary system”— a development deemed a “most desirable thing in the evolution of our young democracy.”
The agenda
In its three years, the Sixth Lok Sabha discussed “deteriorating” law and order situation, China’s invasion on Vietnam, price rise, misuse of media during the Emergency, among a range of issues. A total 130 enactments were passed; 53 related to financial subjects, which was “necessary on account of the Status (Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Mizoram) and Union Territories (Pondicherry, Goa, Daman and Diu) being the President’s rule”.
Fissures cropped up soon. Mr. Desai’s leadership, RSS links of erstwhile Jan Sangh members and the failure to investigate excesses of the Emergency deflated support. The Party also dismissed 10 State Government (since Assembly elections were delinked from those in Lok Sabha) and triggered a repoll.
Tides turned once again, with Mrs. Gandhi’s faction of the Congress pledging calm in the face of chaos. Charan Singh was briefly sworn in as the Prime Minister. The new government couldn’t complete its term, and early elections were called in 1980.
References
- Puri, B. (1985). Era of Indira Gandhi. Economic and Political Weekly, 20(4), 148-150.http://www.jstor.org/stable/4374003
- Parliament of India, The Fifth Lok Sabha: A Study, published for the Lok Sabha Secretariat
- India Budget 1971-72 policy brief
- Election Commission of India
- The Hindu Archives
- The video was taken from Prasar Bharati Archives’ YouTube page:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KWY1n5CpH4
- Election Atlas of India: Parliamentary elections 1952 – 2014, edited by Dr. R. K. Thukral