48 Years of Emergency: 4 leaders jailed during the Emergency, who became the Prime Minister of the country

Report- Shubham singh 

48 Years of Emergency: After the decision of the Allahabad High Court, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in the country under Article 352 on 25 June 1975 to save her chair. Under this, many big leaders of the country were put in jail. Among these leaders, there were 4 such leaders who later became the Prime Minister of the country.

On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court in its judgment declared Indira Gandhi’s election void due to electoral rigging. After which Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on the advice of her son Sanjay Gandhi and Bengal Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray, imposed internal emergency in the country on 25 June 1975 under Article 352 of the Constitution. During this emergency, many big leaders of the opposition in the country were arrested and put in jail. Among these leaders, Indira Gandhi also arrested 4 such leaders who later became the Prime Minister of the country.

48 Years of Emergency
48 Years of Emergency

Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister
During the Emergency, the Prime Minister jailed Morarji Desai, a senior leader of the Congress and who had a different stand from him. After this, when elections were held in the country, all the opposition parties together contested the elections under the leadership of Desai. In this election, the Congress had to be out of power after 30 years and for the first time a non-Congress government was formed in the country under the leadership of Morarji Desai. However, this government fell within two years due to its internal strife.

48 Years of Emergency
48 Years of Emergency

Chaudhary Charan Singh became Prime Minister with the support of Indira

Another prominent leader who went to jail during the Emergency was Chaudhary Charan Singh, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. When the government of Morarji Desai fell fighting with its internal discord. After that, Chaudhary Charan Singh, who was the Home Minister in his own cabinet, took oath as Prime Minister on 28 July 1979 with the support of Indira Gandhi. But his government also could not last long and he resigned from his post on 14 January 1980 after withdrawing the support of the Congress.

Chandrashekhar, who never became a cabinet minister, became the Prime Minister

General elections were again held in the country in 1980 after Charan Singh’s government went. Congress came back to power in this election and ruled the country for almost 10 years. During this, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who had accused Rajiv Gandhi of killing Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Bofors in the country, became the Prime Minister. But in 1980, his government fell due to the withdrawal of Jana Sangh’s support. Then, with the support of Leader of the Opposition and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, who never became a cabinet minister, became the Prime Minister of the country, coming from Ballia, UP. He was also put in jail by Indira Gandhi during emergency.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister

The leader who was jailed for the longest time during the Emergency was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a founding member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was the most famous face during the Emergency. After 1975, all the non-Congress governments were formed in the country. Vajpayee must have become a minister among them.

Vajpayee first ran a 13-day government in 1996. After that he became the Prime Minister of the country from 19 March 1998 to 12 October 1999. But Jayalalithaa’s withdrawal of support led to the fall of her government and then in 1999, the NDA under her leadership won an absolute majority. For the first time in the country, a non-Congress government completed its first term. Along with this, the record of becoming the non-Congress Prime Minister for maximum 3 times with the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was made, which no one has been able to break till date.

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