Slice of History
Indian Democracy in the 70s
History is like shadows, sometimes they are behind us and sometimes they are right in front of us, but never far from us. If we are indeed part of a connected whole, then our present is a linear or, non-linear by-product of our past. Opportune to add the disclaimer that we read in investment products – “past performance is not a guarantee of future results”, but past performance does provide the data points to assess the turn of events in the present and some contours into the future.
Well, this small prologue was a mood-builder to the content I cover in a much abridged form in the script below. It is a discovery into the political fabric. 1Politics, which was for me a delirious cocktail of tainted individuals (with sparingly few exceptions in the mass) and rusted bureaucracy – needed a redefinition.
The genesis to this quest lies in the Lokpal movement, which has created a social churn unseen in scale, for decades now in India’s democratic canvas. Concurrently, unrest in the middle-east led to the displacement of dictatorships, some with violence and some with lesser violence. While reading on the developments, I heard the name of Jayaprakash Narayan, an activist and political crusader in the 70s (his glory existed since the freedom movement). The name sounded familiar, the profile unknown. The parallel which was drawn between the completely peaceful nature of Anna Hazare’s Lokpal agitation found harmony in Jayaprakash Narayan’s call for peaceful “Total Revolution” with a similar “Jail Bharo” campaign. This led to me to a four-decade old journey and most of what I produce is a combination of reading from sources on the internet, books and documentaries.
Nebulous Decade – Elections, Emergency, Pokharan, Drought & the War.
In terms of Elections, the 70s decade saw three polls – 1971, 1977 (emergency years 1975-77) & the 1979-80.
To begin with, the December of 1970 saw the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, well before its end of term and January of ’71 ringing in electoral rumblings. This led to polls for the Fifth Lok Sabha. For her political detractors, Indira Gandhi continued to emerge as a veritable force, independent to split Congress and decisive to win an “absolute” majority winning 352 of 518 seats.
I remember watching a documentary on History Channel, how this election also marked Indira Gandhi’s ascent away from the shadows of paternal guidance of the Congress heavyweights, since Nehru’s demise (1964) & Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) that had led to Indira’s appointment in 1967 elections.
The nation had barely settled from the polls when approximately 10 million refugees started pouring into eastern states of India from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The tensions had started in 1970, when East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) elections had given a 167/169 seats to Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Awami League. The misalignment of interests with the rulers in West Pakistan had created tensions, leading to atrocities and oppression. To deal with the refugee problem and restore identity to the Awami League, Indira Gandhi supported the creation of independent Bangladesh and the price tag was 1971 Indo-Pak War, which is also known as Bangladesh Liberation War.
This was the third instament of Indo-Pak wars, 1947 & 1965 being the preceding tranches. The war of 1971 was emotionally disturbing to a large population, although the war was limited to north-western, northern & eastern border. I remember stories from my grandfather of black-outs in Odisha and a country glued to radio sets on war update. This was also the second major instance of large-scale human displacement in Indian sub-continent, the former being in 1947.
The outcome of the war was the capitulation of Pakistani army on Dec 16th, 1971 followed by the creation of Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi was hailed for her iron-fist in managing the situation and also won hearts in India.
The war victory coupled with the large majority in the Lok Sabha made an already strong Prime Minister, almost authoritarian as many politicians of her time concluded. Her son, Sanjay Gandhi continued to ascend with all major government initiatives with obeisance from loyalists within the party and chief-ministers of Congress-ruled states, competing to win the “prince’s favor”.
I was to realize from this small study that an absolute majority may cause a ruling government to take unilateral decisions and in pushing Bills and legislations, without the grilling of opposition.
There were continued displeasure from Opposition parties on administration and the country also faced a major drought in 1972, due to 25% below normal rainfall (one of the highest deficit in last five decades). While reading on the said crisis years, the reference of drought in 1972 is quite prominent as GDP growth for the said fiscal year was NEGATIVE. Indian economy being primarily agricultural and during those years, a negative GDP amounted to large-scale unemployment, recession, food-crisis, price-rise and saddled with the war costs of 1971, the budgetary deficit had created an inflection point of sorts.
The country was still struggling on various counts, when India ushered into the nuclear arms club with the underground tests at Pokharan in May, 1974. This was showcased as a great output of India’s science & technology prowess, specifically its growing capability in nuclear research. I was reading in newspapers this November of a de-classified US Govt. report, where the tests in Pokharan were shown as a grave intelligence failure. The
world did not take kindly to this news when Indian sub-continent was flash-point
for its two warring neighbors and a possible downside of Pakistan to expedite
its nuclear program (which it ultimately did). While there were mixed reactions
in India with segments expressing displeasure at the wasteful attention that we
earned, when the country was not doing well on several other counts, many
others glowed in the pride of the newly acquired “big boy” status.
The JP Movement – “Total Revolution”
Coming back to where my interest in the ‘70s grew, the above crises reflected ineptly on the government and reports of wide-spread corruption fermented an atmosphere of discontent and triggered the Opposition parties and independent activists to launch protests.
Jayaprakash Narayan launched in May 1974 an agitation named “Total Revolution”, aimed at a comprehensive overhauling of social and administrative approaches.
In many forms there is similarity in Anna Hazare’s approach in terms of the nature of campaign, appealing to the masses and organization. JP also held a large rally in Ramlila grounds which drew mass crowds and caused a huge sore for the government. There are obvious differences between their objectives and focal points. The state of Bihar was absorbed to JP’s agitation and he took the fight to Delhi, camping there and causing a nation-wide stir, leading into 1975.
Emergency !
The accrued tension on economic front, political expediency, protests and agitations had created a vitriolic environment. JP’s relentless movement attacking government had cornered Indira Gandhi in the eyes of her countrymen. The oil and gas mixture inside the engine, got spark from the Allahabad High Court ruling on 12th June, 1975, which declared Indira Gandhi’s election invalid based on some petition filed with the court and subsequent investigation. This prevented until her name was cleared, no voting rights in the Parliament and vitiated her role as Prime Minister, creating a democratic vacuum.
Instead of clearing her name and getting a replacement, she chose an ill-advised move to ring in emergency on June 25th, 1975, which muffled opposition, gagged the press and brought all civil rights to standstill. The nation was under an iron-fence and internal security issues were given the primary reason for invoking such a draconian measure. Opposition leaders of every hue were arrested and newspapers had to clear the contents they were to publish, from Press Information Bureau (PIB) to prevent provocative reporting. There are many dark stories on the days of emergency, and is quite a subject in itself. The biggest impression it created in the nation’s psyche was of fear.
When the emergency was lifted after 21 months, and the hustings led to Congress debacle, bringing to rein India’s first non-Congress government and India’s first coalition government at the center. The coalition of disparate ideologues, ambitions and only united under anti-Congress/Indira imploded within 2 years, and 1979 saw another round of Lok Sabha elections. The country having seen unprecedent instability, political morass and scars of failed governments, chose stability and signed up Congress. The decade started with a Congress score of 352 seats and finished the decade with 353 seats with a clear majority and mandate , erasing memories of the troubled times to start afresh.
Diagnostic report
The study into this decade, the 70s was meaningful for following reasons –
- India’s democracy got tested in the same decade through Emergency & Coalition politics, the nation’s first. Coalition politics has got more embroidered to nation’s political fabric, creating a more federal-central model, with the obvious handicap of state myopia vs national big-picture and the decision-making bottlenecks.
- The fact that Congress was voted back towards the end of the decade, despite the Emergency and excesses, reflects and continue to strengthen the belief that people prefer stability as one of the most critical element of their vote, among other credentials.
- The splintered opposition in the last 60s, could come together to take their first shot at governance, albeit briefly. The Opposition fundamentals have got refined over the years, thanks to experiments in the 70s.
- It was not India’s first brush with Emergency. During the war years with Pakistan (1965 & 1971), emergency was invoked, but the nature of the 1975 emergency – curtailed opposition, free press and civil rights.
1For a long time I believed that good economics is good politics. The government would do well in its role as facilitator for growth of private capital, private enterprise and less interfering in the life of corporate and citizens. I found myself naïve in the belief after the crisis of 2008, when all the independence meted out to private enterprise and poor or, less regulation led to a 1930-era economic scare. The governments acted as saviours and with time further tightened up their control. In India, good economics also led to record corruption. Facilitating good economics created that conflict of interest where agents of the government found incentives to grow personal wealth, as known from the scams in telecom , mining, housing et al. Following the examples from certain developments in Bihar and Gujarat where “perceptively” efficient chief-ministers have put satisfying record in economic development. This has tempted me to flip my belief to “good politics to good economics”, the obvious understanding being that good politics is less corrupt machinery that monitors its morality, conduct and its performance.
The sources -
Keeping the Faith – Memoirs of a Parliamentarian, Somnath Chatterjee, Harper Collins, 2010.
& my curiosity whetted by google.
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