Coomi Kapoor's book The Emergency explores the complicated relationship between Jayaprakash Narayan and Indira Gandhi who widely differed in their opinions.
Over 50 years ago, Jayaprakash Narayan had advocated more autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir on many occasions, but ruled out de-accession or independence.
On JP’s birth anniversary, reposting my trip down memory lane to 1977-78, and conspiracy theories about why his health deteriorated during the Emergency.
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Given that JP suffered from high diabetes, it would have been easy to let his kidneys deteriorate just by “ignoring” to keep the diabetes in check. No “proactive” conspiracy would be needed.
I would not suggest that the above “deliberate neglect” might have happened, but I would only make a general statement which would be news to no one that, “Indira Gandhi was a strong person”. From there it would be a small corollary to say that, “a strong person can take unusual decisions.”
But it is not surprising that Mr Modi would want to usurp ALL the great leaders this country has had, be it a Gandhi or a Patel or a JP. It reflects the well known paucity of great NATIONAL leaders in the Sangh fraternity. But our prime minister would do well to recall that JP had nothing against Indira Gandhi as a PERSON, it was her undemocratic POLICIES that he vehemently opposed. On this account, JP would have similarly opposed Mr Modi too, for example on his handling of the Rafale deal. JP would positively be turning in his proverbial grave to know that the latter was using his name to further inflict the same undemocratic ways of working on the people of his beloved country.
The failed experiment of the short lived Janata sarkar formed in 1977, which met a dishonourable end in 1979, is a splendid text book lesson on how coalition governments are formed, and will inevitably fail. Only Vajpayee ‘managed’ a coalition really well, although he too had to pay a price for Jayalalithas’s demands and caprice. (PVN did his best Chanakya act but still had to carry a permanent JMM ‘Cash for votes’ scar). The UPA would have collapsed with the Left taking an abrupt left turn away from it in 2009, but was saved only at the last minute only by Mulayam’s own trademark ‘twist of the tale’. The point is that people like Raj Narain ( to mention only one) have to be made ministers and others like Devi Lal and Deve Gowda offered the post of PM. (Just take a look at Karnataka now). Contradictions and confusion created by greed for power and envy will haunt every coalition, and hence the present, so called Maha Gath Bandhan, failing to even taxi to the runway is hardly surprising. If only JP had been in good health in 1975, India may have seen a very different brand of politics for the better. But then, even the Mahatma could not ensure a smooth government in 1947! And, what a great price we have been paying ever since as a result thereof !
Given that JP suffered from high diabetes, it would have been easy to let his kidneys deteriorate just by “ignoring” to keep the diabetes in check. No “proactive” conspiracy would be needed.
I would not suggest that the above “deliberate neglect” might have happened, but I would only make a general statement which would be news to no one that, “Indira Gandhi was a strong person”. From there it would be a small corollary to say that, “a strong person can take unusual decisions.”
But it is not surprising that Mr Modi would want to usurp ALL the great leaders this country has had, be it a Gandhi or a Patel or a JP. It reflects the well known paucity of great NATIONAL leaders in the Sangh fraternity. But our prime minister would do well to recall that JP had nothing against Indira Gandhi as a PERSON, it was her undemocratic POLICIES that he vehemently opposed. On this account, JP would have similarly opposed Mr Modi too, for example on his handling of the Rafale deal. JP would positively be turning in his proverbial grave to know that the latter was using his name to further inflict the same undemocratic ways of working on the people of his beloved country.
The failed experiment of the short lived Janata sarkar formed in 1977, which met a dishonourable end in 1979, is a splendid text book lesson on how coalition governments are formed, and will inevitably fail. Only Vajpayee ‘managed’ a coalition really well, although he too had to pay a price for Jayalalithas’s demands and caprice. (PVN did his best Chanakya act but still had to carry a permanent JMM ‘Cash for votes’ scar). The UPA would have collapsed with the Left taking an abrupt left turn away from it in 2009, but was saved only at the last minute only by Mulayam’s own trademark ‘twist of the tale’. The point is that people like Raj Narain ( to mention only one) have to be made ministers and others like Devi Lal and Deve Gowda offered the post of PM. (Just take a look at Karnataka now). Contradictions and confusion created by greed for power and envy will haunt every coalition, and hence the present, so called Maha Gath Bandhan, failing to even taxi to the runway is hardly surprising. If only JP had been in good health in 1975, India may have seen a very different brand of politics for the better. But then, even the Mahatma could not ensure a smooth government in 1947! And, what a great price we have been paying ever since as a result thereof !