New Delhi: India’s first non-Congress Prime Minister Morarji Desai once considered a tiny jail cell to be a better place than serving in the office of the prime minister.
The statement was borne out of two important phases in his life. Desai was among the prominent opposition leaders to be jailed during the Emergency in 1975 and after he was released, played a major role in removing the Congress from power for the first time in the 1977 elections.
Desai went on to serve as the prime minister for two years, helming the Janata party government that had swept to power.
It was during his stint in power that Desai spoke of his time in prison. “It is the only kind of holiday I had in my life. I have learned more about human nature in prison than what I have learned in my entire life,” he told Thames TV in 1977.
While his tenure as prime minister lasted just for about two years, he is credited with making serious efforts to improve relations between India and Pakistan.
It was during Desai’s time that both countries resumed playing cricket after a gap of 17 years. He is also said to have made serious peace overtures to the neighbouring country.
For his efforts, Pakistan presented him with its highest civilian award — the Nishan-e-Pakistan — in 1986. A few years later, in 1991, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, making him the only Indian to receive the highest civilian awards of both countries.
Desai passed away on 10 April 1995, months short of his 100th birthday.
Then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao described Desai as a “man of iron will and uncompromising on principles that he held dear”.
ThePrint remembers India’s first non-Congress prime minister on his 24th death anniversary.
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The man from Gujarat
Desai was born on 29 February 1896 at Bhandeli village near the port city of Surat in Gujarat. His father was a teacher and a disciplinarian. Desai went on to graduate from Wilson College, Mumbai, in 1918 where he received a first class degree in Arts.
Following this, Desai became a minor functionary as a civil servant and served for a period of 12 years in what was then Bombay province under the British.
At a young age of 15, Desai was married off to Gajraben Desai.
Participation in the freedom struggle
Desai resigned from the government job and joined Mahatma Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. “When it was a question of the independence of the country, problems relating to family occupied a subordinate position,” he said in justification of his statement.
In 1931, Desai became a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Six years later, he was appointed as the Minister for Revenue, Agriculture, Forest and Co-Operatives in the Bombay province. He actively participated in the freedom movement and was once jailed for three consecutive years, between 1942 and 1945.
Post-Independence political career
Desai became second chief minister of Bombay, serving between 1952 and 1957. He is remembered for ordering a controversial ban of kissing scenes in films and the closure of restaurants at midnight.
He moved back to Delhi to serve as a minister in the Congress government in 1967. He served as the deputy prime minister of India and finance minister for two years (1967-69).
As finance minister in the Indira Gandhi cabinet, Desai brought in the Gold Control Act, 1968. The Act prohibited citizens from buying gold bars and coins. Desai wanted to slow down gold imports but the demand for gold remained steady, leading to an increase in gold smuggling.
Following Indira’s move to nationalise private banks in July 1969, Desai split from the Congress and helped form the Congress (Organisation).
According to a report published in Forbes India, Desai wrote, “Recent experience does not suggest that large banks need to be taken over so as to do something they have not been doing.”
His debut outside the Congress, however, got off to a sobering start.
In the 1971 elections, the Desai-led Congress (O) won only 51 seats while the Indira Gandhi-led Congress won a total of 352 seats.
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The first non-Congress PM
Desai joined the Janata Party before the Emergency and helped it form the government in Gujarat. A few weeks later, a national emergency was imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi on 26 June 1975.
Several top Opposition leaders, including Desai, were arrested during the Emergency. He would remain in jail till days before the general election dates were announced in January 1977.
With little time left before the elections, several opposition parties banded together under the Janata party and toppled a Congress government for the first time since Independence.
During the brief election campaign, Desai said, “Democracy has been sterilised.” When the government was formed, Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister of the country.
Desai, however, resigned in 1979 as a result of factionalism. The Janata party fell apart and Indira’s Congress returned to power in 1980.
According to The Washington Post, Desai described his tenure in office to be “tougher than his time spent in prison”.
Improving ties with Pakistan
Desai during his brief time as a prime minister tried improving India’s relationship with Pakistan.
This Rediff piece claims that he was even ready with a plan for Kashmir. “Desai’s friends claim he even reached an agreement with Zia on Kashmir,” the report says. “They say Zia had intended to announce the agreement during a planned visit to India, but the Janata government fell and with it was lost a precious opportunity to reach a durable agreement with Islamabad.”
Desai was awarded the ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’ in 1986. Then Pakistan president Zia-ul-Haq, in a letter addressed to Desai, wrote, “I request you to accept this. This is the wish of the people of Pakistan.’’ In May 1990, he received the award at a private ceremony at his home in Mumbai.
A year later, he was awarded India’s highest civilian award – the ‘Bharat Ratna’ — along with Rajiv Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
The urine therapy
Apart from his distinguished political career, Desai was well known for his personal habits. He had a unique lifestyle. An austere vegetarian, he had a diet containing fruits, milk and, famously, his own urine.
During an interview with Thames TV anchor Elaine Grand in Britain, the anchor remarked that at the age of 81, “you look very young and energetic”.
Desai replied, “What I believe is in self-control and will power.”
So convinced was he of his own urine’s healing properties that Desai wrote a book titled, Miracles of Urine Therapy.
When ABC News journalist Barbara Walters asked him about the benefits of his urine therapy, Desai replied, “I do consider urine therapy as a cure for almost all diseases, but the person who does it must have faith in it.”
Desai told Walters that urine can help cure cataract.
Until his death, Desai remained true to his Gandhian principles. Celebrating his 99th birthday he told Reuters, “Gandhism is still relevant to today’s world, and not just India alone. It means fearlessness, humanity, love for all. These things concern everyone.”
The Independent, UK, in its obituary wrote, “A strong protagonist of prohibition and yoga, he caused discomfiture to millions of Indians when, as prime minister, he propounded the efficiency of urine-drinking. He attributed his longevity to drinking urine — which he called the ‘water of life’ — at least twice every day.”
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