1977 elections and the Janata Party

The essentials

In January 1977 the government announced fresh Lok Sabha elections. Political prisoners were released, and the Emergency was withdrawn in March 1977. Opposition parties came together quickly to form the Janata Party; it included the Congress (O), the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party. Senior Congress leader Jagjivan Ram left the Congress and formed the Congress for Democracy, which later merged with the Janata Party.

The opposition presented the election as a referendum on the Emergency. For the first time since independence, the Congress lost a Lok Sabha election. It lost almost every seat in north India, including those of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi, while it did better in the southern states.

Key points

• Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister; Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram were other leading figures.
• The Janata Party lacked a common direction, and rivalries among its leaders led to its breakup. Charan Singh became Prime Minister for a short time in 1979 with outside support from the Congress, which later withdrew it.
• Fresh elections were held in January 1980, and the Congress led by Indira Gandhi returned to power.
• The Emergency strengthened awareness of civil liberties. Organisations such as the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) were formed in this period to protect citizens' rights.
• Lessons of the Emergency include the importance of an independent judiciary, a free press and the ability of voters to remove a government.

Exam tips

• Know which parties formed the Janata Party.
• Be able to explain both the reasons for the Janata victory and the reasons for its government's collapse.

Common mistakes

• Thinking the Janata government lasted a full five-year term; it collapsed within about three years.
• Confusing Jagjivan Ram's Congress for Democracy with the Congress (O).