The premiership of Morarji Desai extended from 24 March 1977 to 15 July 1979. In the

1977 Indian general election General elections were held in India between 16 and 20 March 1977 to elect the members of the 6th Lok Sabha. The elections took place during the Emergency period, which expired on 21 March 1977, shortly before the final results were announced ...

Morarji Desai led the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that 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 Nati ...

to victory against the

Congress party The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. Upon taking office,

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

became the first

Indian Prime Minister The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

not belonging to the Congress party.

Emergency and election victory

The Janata Party was formed by political leaders and activists of various political parties who had been united in opposing the

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

imposed in 1975 by then-Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

. After elections were called in 1977, the Janata Party was formed from the union of the

Congress (O) The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi. On 12 November 1969, the Prime Ministe ...

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...

Socialist Party of India Socialist Party has been the name of several political parties in India, all of which have their roots in the Congress Socialist Party during the freedom struggle. Background Socialism had a late appearance in Indian politics and this was at ...

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) ( ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the po ...

and the

Lok Dal Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former prime minister of India Charan Singh. See also * Girraj Kishore Mahaur, former MLA of Lok Dal * Lok Dal (Charan) * Rashtriya Lok Dal Rashtr ...

. Congress defector

Jagjivan Ram Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician from Bihar. He was instrumental in the foundation of the ''All India Depressed Classes League'', an organisation dedicated ...

Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (25 April 1919 – 17 March 1989) was an Indian National Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh; he later joined Bharatiya Lok Dal and worked with Charan Singh. Personal life He was born on 25 Apr ...

Nandini Satpathy Nandini Satpathy (9 June 1931 – 4 August 2006) was an Indian politician and author. She was the Chief Minister of Odisha from June 1972 to December 1976. Early life Nandini Satpathy nee Panigrahi was born on 9 June 1931 to Kalindi Chara ...

formed the

Congress for Democracy The Congress for Democracy (CFD) was an Indian political party founded in 1977 by Jagjivan Ram. It was formed after Jagjivan Ram, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, and Nandini Satpathy left the Indian National Congress of Indira Gandhi and denounced her r ...

and joined the Janata alliance. The widespread unpopularity of Emergency rule gave Janata and its allied a landslide victory in the election.

Cabinet ministers

Pratap Chandra Chunder Pratap Chandra Chunder (1 September 1919 – 1 January 2008) was a union minister of India, educationist and author. He served in the Morarji Desai Ministry from 1977 to 1980 as a cabinet minister with education and social welfare portfolio ...

– Minister of Education *

Shanti Bhushan Shanti Bhushan (born 11 November 1925) is an Indian politician and lawyer. He served as the Law Minister of India holding office at the Ministry of Law and Justice from 1977 to 1979 in the Morarji Desai Ministry. He is a senior advocate of the ...

– Minister of Law and Justice *

Brij Lal Verma Brijlal Verma (1916 - 19 July 1987) was a cabinet minister in Morarji Desai ministry in India. He held communication portfolio from 1977 to 1979 . He was elected to Lok Sabha from Mahasamund on a Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ...

– Minister of Communications * Madhu Dandavate – Minister of the Railways * Raj Narain – Minister of Health *

– Minister of Petroleum *

Ravindra Varma Ravindra Varma (9 April 1925 – 10 October 2006) was a Gandhian politician who served as the Minister for Labour and Parliamentary Affairs in the Morarji Desai Ministry in India from 1977 to 1979. Politics He entered active politics in 1942 ...

– Minister of Labour and Parliamentary affairs *

Mohan Dharia Mohan Dharia (14 February 1925 - 14 October 2013) was a Union minister, a lawyer and social worker. During his last days he stayed in Pune. Dharia was an environmentalist and ran a non-government organisation Vanarai. He was elected to the Lok S ...

– Minister of Commerce *

Biju Patnaik Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. As politician, he served twice as the Chief Minister of the State of Odisha. Early life His parents lived in Bellaguntha, Ganjam dist ...

Purushottam Kaushik Purushottam Lal Kaushik (24 September 1930 – 5 October 2017) was an Indian Politician. Details He was elected to the Lok Sabha the lower house of the Indian Parliament from Raipur in 1977 and Durg in 1989 from Madhya Pradesh as a member of t ...

Rabi Ray Rabi Ray (26 November 1926 – 6 March 2017) was an Indian socialist politician, a Gandhian, a speaker of the Lok Sabha and a former Union minister. He hailed from Odisha. He joined the Socialist Party in 1948, and later became member of the Sam ...

was inducted in January 1979 to fill in the vacancy caused by Raj Narain's exit.

Ministers of state

* Abha Maiti * Satish Chandra Agrawal * Krishana Kumar Goyal * Jagadambi Prasad Yadav * Renuka Devi Barkataki *

Arif Beg Arif Beg (1935–2016) was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. He hailed from Indore in Madhya Pradesh state. His father, Qaramat ‘Pahalwan’ Baig, had reached Indore from Afghanistan. Political career He was an Indian Union Minister (197 ...

* Ishaq Jamkhanawala *

Samarendra Kundu Samarendra Kundu (5 October 1930 – ?) was an Indian politician and a former Union minister of state of foreign affairs in the Government of India. He was elected to the 4th Lok Sabha in 1967 from Balasore in Orissa. He was re-elected to t ...

- Minister of State, External Affairs * Ram Kinkar - Minister of State in the Ministry of Works and Housing and Supply and Rehabilitation

Reversal of Emergency decrees

The first actions taken by the Desai government were to formally end the state of emergency and media censorship and repeal the controversial executive decrees issued during the Emergency. The Constitution was amended to make it more difficult for any future government to declare a state of emergency; fundamental freedoms and the independence of India's judiciary was reaffirmed. The new government also proceeded to withdraw all charges against the 25 accused in the Baroda dynamite case, which included the new Minister of Industry, George Fernandes. The Minister of Railways reinstated the railway employees disciplined after the May 1974 strike. The Desai government proceeded to establish inquiry commissions and tribunals to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses by members of Indira Gandhi's government, political party and the police forces. Specific inquiries were instituted on Sanjay Gandhi's management of the state-owned

Maruti Udyog Ltd. Maruti Suzuki India Limited, formerly known as Maruti Udyog Limited, is an Indian automobile manufacturer, based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1981 and owned by the Government of India until 2003, when it was sold to the Japanese automaker ...

, the activities of the former Minister of Defence

Bansi Lal Bansi Lal Legha (26 August 1927 – 28 March 2006) was an Indian independence activist, senior Congress leader, former Chief Minister of Haryana, former Defence Minister of India, and the architect of modern Haryana. Bansi Lal was part of the f ...

and the

1971 Nagarwala scandal The Nagarwala case or Nagarwala scandal refers to an Indian fraud case where Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala allegedly imitated Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi and convinced Ved Prakash Malhotra to withdraw ₹60 lakhs from the branch of the ...

. Both Indira and her son Sanjay were charged with allegations of corruption and briefly arrested.

Economic policy

The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

and IBM from India. But the government was unable to address the issues of resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty. The legalisation of strikes and re-empowerment of trade unions affected business efficiency and economic production. The Janata government tried to curb forgery and black money in India by demonetising notes of 1000, 5000 and 10000 Rupees on 16 January 1978. Many decades later, in November 2016,

Modi government The premiership of Narendra Modi began on 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He became the 14th Prime Minister of India, succeeding Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress. Modi's f ...

decided to demonetise 500 and 1000 rupee notes in an effort to stop the counterfeiting of the current banknotes alleged to be used for funding

terrorism in India Terrorism in India, according to the Home Ministry, poses a significant threat to the people of India. Compared to other countries, India faces a wide range of terror groups. Terrorism found in India includes Islamic terrorism, separatist ...

and for cracking down on black money in the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Morarji, Premiership Of Janata Party 1970s in India Indian premierships 1977 establishments in India 1979 disestablishments in India Shiromani Akali Dal