Janata Party Experiment (An Insider's Account of Opposition Politics: 1977-1980) Set of 2 Volumes

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This second volume of the analytical history of the Janata Party Experiment by an insider unravels the various strands of the complex inner-party struggle and its interaction with the opponents and allies outside the Party's fold. The decisive action in the author's view was the unwise decision of Home Minister Charan Singh to take up the issue of Inquiry into the charges against Prime Minister Morarji Desai's son on the basis of a reported speech of the latter. It was at this point that Desai, equally unwisely, determined to be rid of Charan Singh, an important prop of the Party and the Government. This clearly was an overreaction and harmed the new Experiment. The Jan Sangh which preserved its separate identity throughout 1977-80 tried to expand and tighten its control over the levers of power through shifting alliances. In the first phase, it made an alliance with Morarji Desai at the Centre and with Charan Singh in the States to maximise its share of power. In the second phase, it helped Morarji oust Charan Singh and Raj Narain from the Centre. The eventual re-induction of Charan Singh and Raj Narain's exclusion was a fatal mistake. Raj Narain. a man of superabundant energy, became restless. The removal of some junior ministers in UP triggered a no-holds barred fight and the Lok Dal-led Ministries of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were toppled. The ousted Chief Ministers became the new foci of discontent.

The issue of dual affiliation and dual loyalty of the JS members, as part of the Sangh Parivar, which Morarji had quite intentionally left unresolved, now assumed an explosive character. Y.B. Chavan unwittingly provided the spark by moving a No- Confidence Motion, and the edifice of the numerically powerful Janata Party in Parliament suddenly collapsed.

In this well-documented volume the author, an outstanding intellectual, freedom fighter and parliamentarian, not only throws penetrating light on the clash of personalities, factions, and social and economic interests that constituted the intricate fabric of the Janata Party, but he also provides a detailed and insightful analysis of the socio-economic and international policies of the Janata Government. The last Chapter is an illuminating summing up of the whole Experiment.

Madhu Limaye (b. 1 May 1922), the most prominent and distinguished among the Socialist Movement's younger leaders, was drawn towards the freedom movement and the Socialist Party at an early age. He was held in great affection by Jayaprakash, Lohia, Narendra Deva and other leaders.

The struggle against foreign rule landed him in prison many times. His first imprisonment came in 1940-41. He participated in the Quit India underground movement and was detained under the DIR till the end of the war. In the Goa Liberation Movement, Limaye was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by a Portuguese Military Tribunal. Again, he spent nineteen months in detention during the Emergency.

Limaye was elected member of the Lok Sabha four times and has been an out- standing parliamentarian and intellectual. Limaye, a lifelong fighter for civil liberties, himself argued his Supreme Court cases, and was invariably successful.

Limaye held various offices: Secretary. (All India) Socialist Party; Secretary. Asian Socialist Conference; Chairman, Socialist Party; Leader, SSP Parliamentary Group. He was also General Secretary, the Janata Party and later, of Lok Dal. He is the author of several books in English, Marathi and Hindi.

This volume completes my study of post-independence politics with its focus on the non-Congress parties. This is not the work of a bookish scholar or an outside observer or commentator. It is a study by an insider and an active participant. I do not deny that as an activist I held strong views on issues, policies, programmes and personalities that helped shape the politics of our country in the three or four decades after the achievement of freedom. Nor can I forget that I am a child of the Freedom Revolution which has made a powerful impact on my mind and ideas. Nevertheless I have tried to be as objective as possible. Instead of relying on my memory. I have relied on contemporary evidence and have taken care to check and cross-check the facts and references. As a result the study is heavily documented. I have used material which was not accessible to other observers who wrote on this period.

I have been asked by some friends to continue the analytical study of Opposition politics and extend it to nineteen eighties and early nineties. I have deliberately decided not to undertake this work. After 1980 I began to play a less active role in politics and retired from active politics altogether in 1982. I cannot term my study of the eighties and nineties an insider's analysis or a participant's account. My books Politics After Freedom (Second Edition), Socialist Communist Interaction in Indic and Decline of a Political System have dealt with the politics of 1980-91. But these studies are part of a larger canvass and therefore less detailed than this work.