Morarji Desai: The youth of Lohia had displayed their anger in front of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, what was the reason

KC Tyagi, Lucknow: With the coming to power of the Janata Party, the epic of its disintegration was also being written. The occasion was to form the youth wing of the party. A meeting of youth organizations of all constituents of the Janata Party was convened in May 1977 in Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh). Workers from Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, Congress (R), Bharatiya Jana Sangh and CFD led by Babu Jagjivan Ram were also present. Senior party official Surendra Mohan came as an observer. All agreed on the dissolution of their predecessor organizations, the form and the name of the new organization. But Ram Bahadur Rai and Pramod Mahajan took everyone by surprise saying they rejected the offer. He said he was ready to work in ‘Yuva Janta’. But the merger of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is impossible because it is a class organization of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and RSS has the right to make decisions in this matter. However, both of them left the authorized meeting of the Janata Party.

People associated with Yuvajan Sabha had a maximum presence among the young leaders of Sarnath. They dominated student unions at most universities in northern India. The problem was with the direction selection. Sharad Yadav had become the most popular and preferred leader by winning Jabalpur Lok Sabha again, but the Samajwadi rally led by Rajnarayan had more numbers than his comrades. After much tug of war, V. Mayakrishnan, the head of the Congress organization was finally elected National President of the Yuva Janta.

Rajnarayan’s Challenge

A plan has been drawn up to organize a camp in Shimla on the occasion of the third anniversary of the emergency. I was charged with it. The dates of June 23, 24, 25 (1978) have been retained. On June 23 and 24, discussions were held on the enlargement of the organization and ideological issues. It was decided to observe June 25 as Anti-Emergency Day. Socialist leader Rajnarayan was invited as the chief guest on the occasion. Shimla’s historic Maidan Ridge was chosen for the venue. The distance from organized camping at Ram Mandir would have been about 1 kilometer from the ridge floor. Thousands of young people marched towards the gathering place brandishing anti-emergency slogans. Suddenly, SP Shimla stopped and said Section 144 applies there, so no meeting related events are possible there.

Himachal Yuva Janta President Rajendra Handa had already informed the concerned authorities about the organization of the meeting. Previously, a meeting of Morarji Bhai and Atal ji was held at the same place. All the comrades jointly decided that they would come together and hold a meeting near the statue of Gandhi located at the meeting place. Rajnarayan ji began his address against the backdrop of a state of emergency declared that day, during which all democratic rights came to an end, including freedom of assembly. It is unfortunate that Chief Minister Shanta Kumar himself has also been jailed. So why did he make such a decision?

We were surprised to know that the organization of this meeting will be considered as the dividing line of the Janata Party. Upon his return to Delhi, he learned of the dismissal of Chaudhary Charan Singh and Rajnarayan from the Cabinet. The Yuva Janata Rally held at Ridge Maidan was considered its base. A meeting of officers was held under the chairmanship of V. Mayakrishnan, at which apart from me, Raj Kumar Jain, Markandeya Singh, ZK Faizan, Kulwant Singh were present. It was decided that the Prime Minister should be informed of all developments related to the rally. V. Mayakrishnan (Chairman) was counted among the trusted companions of Morarji Bhai.

Earlier, Rajnarayan publicly stated his position that no district administration officer informed him about the imposition of Section 144 and the denial of permission for the rally. The administration’s discriminatory attitude can be gauged by the fact that despite being a Union Minister, Rajnarayan was not invited by the state, while Dr. Swamy was welcomed with honor. of State at the Janata Yuva Morcha convention held in Solan a week ago. was made with

The attitude of Prime Minister Morarji

On June 29, the time was set for our meeting at 1:30 p.m. at the Prime Minister’s Office. Immediately after taking the seat, Prime Minister Morarji Desai started presenting his side that when you were not allowed to hold the meeting, why did the meeting take place? You made a big mistake trying to put your own government in the dock. When colleagues attempted to present their views at the meeting, the Prime Minister emphatically said that he knew us very well. When Morarji Bhai said he knew how Dr. Lohia had practiced the politics of allegations all his life, our comrades strongly objected.

The young people, known for their rebellious attitude, began to lie to the Prime Minister: “We are supporters of Lohia, so it is not in our nature to tolerate injustice. The Prime Minister sensed the temperature of the debate and ordered everyone out. Then everyone came out saying “the chair you’re sitting in is the result of our struggle and our sacrifices, so we condemn your conduct.” This episode proved that the young leaders of the time had the courage to confront even their own leadership. Today all the youth passes in the hospitality of the leaders of our party. (The author is a former MP)