Indira versus the Janata (1970–1980)
This was a checkered period but, surprisingly, there were no serious communal incidents. These were happy years for Indira Gandhi who had managed to tame Banks and Princes (Hurtig 1988) and who, above all, had won an impressive victory over Pakistan in liberating its eastern wing, the nascent Bangladesh. This is when she was enthusiastically called “Durga”, the warring Hindu Great Goddess.
Fresh difficulties appeared in 1974 with the first petrol crisis, and a protest movement which developed around an “old-timer”, Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), with the active participation of the national opposition, namely the Congress (O), the BLD (Bharatiya Lok Dal) of Charan Singh , the Swatantra, the Jan Sangh, and the Socialist parties. The JP Movement looked threatening. Indira cut it short. A state of Emergency was declared in June 1975 (L. I. Rudolph and S. H. Rudolph 1987; Bernard 1994).
It was at first a kind of relief for Muslims, who feared the Jan Sangh’s influence within the JP Movement. However, especially in UP and Bihar, Emergency had its dark sides. There were excesses, which changed everybody’s perceptions (Dayal and Bose 1977). In January 1977, mid - term elections were called by Indira Gandhi , who was apparently unaware of the general discontent. It was a disaster for the Congress Party in Northern India. The opposition leaders, who had spent eighteen months in jail, were now free, vocal and victorious at the polls. They were thus in a position to form a government. A Janata Party was built in a hurry. It was the kind of a heterogeneous combination that we had found previously within the JP Movement and, with some fresh allies, these people were now at the head of the country. The new PM - a unanimous choice - was Morarji Desai , an old rival of Mrs. Gandhi . There were however major differences between the Janata and the JP Movement: religious leaders had met in jail. They now “understood” each other better (Graff 1980). Communal biases would be controlled.
This amicable mood did not last, however. In various cities, local Hindu activists could not accept the conciliatory efforts made at the Centre by their representatives, the two cabinet ministers, A. B. Vajpayee and L. K. Advani. In 1978 - 79, communal violence erupted again.