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The children of Midnight Morarji Desai: Good leader and a straightforward person!

MAJOR KULBIR SINGH. Dated: 5/22/2017 11:37:55 AM

‘During his long career in politics, he held many important posts in government such as: Chief Minister of Bombay State, Home Minister, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. On the international scene, Desai holds international fame for his peace activism and made efforts to initiate peace between two rival South Asian states, Pakistan and India. After India’s first nuclear explosion in 1974, Desai helped restore friendly relations with China and Pakistan, and vowed to avoid armed conflict such as Indo-Pakistani war of 1971’. By: Major Kulbir Singh Morarji Desai Morarji (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and served between 1977 to 1979 as the 4th Prime Minister of India for the government formed by the Janata Party. During his long career in politics, he held many important posts in government such as: Chief Minister of Bombay State, Home Minister, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. On the international scene, Desai holds international fame for his peace activism and made efforts to initiate peace between two rival South Asian states, Pakistan and India. After India’s first nuclear explosion in 1974, Desai helped restore friendly relations with China and Pakistan, and vowed to avoid armed conflict such as Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. He was also accused of scaling down the Indian covert operations agency, the R&AW. Morarji Desai was born at Bhadeli village, Bulsar district in the Bombay Presidency (now in Gujarat) on 29 February 1896, the oldest of eight children. His father was a school teacher. Desai underwent his primary schooling in Saurashtra The Kundla School, Savarkundla now called J.V. Modi school and later joined Bai Ava Bai High School, Valsad. After graduating from Wilson College, Mumbai, he joined the civil service in Gujarat. Desai resigned as deputy collector of Godhra in May 1930 after being found guilty of going soft on Hindus during the riots of 1927-28 there. Desai then joined the freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi and joined the civil disobedience movement against British rule in India. He spent many years in jail during the freedom struggle and owing to his sharp leadership skills and tough spirit, he became a favourite amongst freedomfighters and an important leader of the Indian National Congress in the Gujarat region. When provincial elections were held in 1934 and 1937, Desai was elected and served as the Revenue Minister and Home Minister of the Bombay Presidency. Before the independence of India, he became Bombay’s Home Minister and later was elected as Chief Minister of Bombay State in 1952. The state was a bi-lingual state, home to Gujaratispeaking and Marathi-speaking people. Since 1956, activist organization Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti led a movement for a Marathi-only speaking state of Maharashtra. A staunch nationalist himself, Morarji Desai was opposed to such movements, including the Mahagujarat Movement led by Indulal Yagnik demanding a new state of Gujarat. Desai proposed that the metropolitan Mumbai (as coined by earlier Koli inhabitants), be made into a union territory or a separate development region to suit its cosmopolitan nature, due to its long-settled citizens from diverse settings across various linguistic, cultural, and religious backgrounds spanning several generations. In opposition to his alleged Gandhian thoughts, Desai ordered police to fire on demonstrators of the Mumbaiunit of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti at Flora Fountain who had gathered there to demonstrate against government. The protesters were led by Senapati Bapat. Desai ordered firing which killed 105 protesters including an eleven-year-old girl during the incident. This escalated the issue and is believed to have forced the Federal Government to agree to two separate states based on language. After the formation of the present State of Maharashtra, Bombay, now Mumbai became its state capital. Flora Fountain was renamed “Hutatma Chowk” (“Martyrs’ Square” in Marathi) to honour the 105 people killed in the firing. Later Desai moved to Delhi when he was inducted as Home Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. As Home Minister, Desai outlawed any portrayals of indecency (which included “kissing” scenes) in films and theatrical productions. Being a staunch Gandhian, Desai was socially conservative, pro-business, and in favour of free enterprise reforms, as opposed to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s socialistic policies. Rising in Congress leadership, as a fierce nationalist with anti-corruption leanings, Desai was at odds with Prime Minister Nehru and his allies, and with Nehru’s age and health failing, he was considered as a possible contender for the position of Prime Minister. Outflanked in the leadership contest after Nehru’s death in 1964 by the Nehruvian Lal Bahadur Shastri, Desai remained content to build support within the ranks. In early 1966, the unexpected passing away of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri after only 18 months in power made Morarji Desai once again a contender for the top position. However, he was defeated by Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, in the Congress party leadership election by a narrow margin. Desai served as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of India in the Indira Gandhi government until 1969 when Prime Minister Gandhi took the finance portfolio from him. At the same time, she also nationalized the fourteen largest banks in India. These acts compelled Morarji Desai to resign from the Gandhi cabinet. In the subsequent split of the Congress party, Morarji joined the Indian National Congress (Organisation) faction of the party, whereas Gandhi formed a new faction called Indian National Congress (Ruling). Alternatively, the two factions of Desai and Indira were called Syndicate and Indicate respectively. The 1971 general elections to the Indian parliament were won by Indira Gandhi’s faction in a landslide. Morarji Desai, however, was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha or lower house of Parliament. Morarji Desai went on indefinite hunger strike on 12 March 1975 to support Nav Nirman movement of Gujarat. In 1975, Indira Gandhi was convicted of electoral fraud by the Allahabad High Court, after opponents alleged she had used government civil servants and equipment during the campaign for the 1971 General Elections. During the subsequent Emergency rule in 1975–77, in a massive crackdown, Desai and other opposition leaders were jailed by the Indira Gandhi government. The popular anticorruption movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan and the anti-Emergency wave in 1977 led to the complete routing of the Congress party in Northern India, and a landslide victory for the opposition Janata alliance in the National elections held in March 1977. Morarji Desai was selected by the Janata alliance, later Janata Party as their parliamentary leader, and thus became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. After Indira Gandhi decided to lift The Emergency, general elections were held. Janata Party registered a landslide victory in the election and Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister. Desai worked to improve relations with neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan and restored normal relations with China, for the first time since the 1962 war. He communicated with Zia-ul-Haq and established friendly relations. Diplomatic relations were also re-established with China. His amendments made to the constitution during emergency and made it difficult for any future government to impose a national emergency. coalition, was full of personal and policy friction and thus failed to achieve much owing to continuous in-wrangling and much controversy. With no party in leadership coalition, rival groups vied to unseat Desai. Controversial trials of prominent Congress leaders, including Indira Gandhi over Emergency-era abuses worsened the fortunes of his administration. Since India’s first nuclear test in 1974, Desai kept India’s nuclear reactors stating “they will never be used for atomic bombs, and I will see to it if I can help it”. In 1977, the Carter administration offered to sell India, heavy water and uranium for its nuclear reactors but required American on-site inspection of nuclear materials. Desai declined, seeing the American stance as contradictory, in light of its own nuclear arsenal. Domestically, he played a crucial role in the Indian nuclear program after it was targeted by major nuclear powers after conducting a surprise test in 1974. Morarji Desai closed down much of India’s premier intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), reduced its budget and operations and was personally responsible for the treachery of decimation of R&AW’s network in Pakistan by leaking the details of India’s deep knowledge of Kahuta Project to the then Pakistani dictator Zia Ul Haq.