1977 polls | The answer to tyranny

There are many theories about just what prompted Indira Gandhi to announce, in a radio broadcast on January 18, 1977, that a general election was imminent. Some put it down to her own conscience, others to the wise counsel of British MP Michael Foot, or the enigmatic sage J.P. Krishnamurti or even a telepathic conversation with the Kanchi Shankaracharya. Less generous theories credit Bhutto’s announcement of elections in Pakistan earlier that month or an incompetent prediction of victory from the Khufiya Bureau.There is in fact good reason to surmise that Mrs G was realistic enough to anticipate defeat at the hands of the coalescing opposition movement and certainly by the time Congress stalwarts such as Jagjivan Ram, H.N. Bahuguna and Nandini Satpathy jumped ship a month later. Their ‘Congress for Democracy’ soon merged with the astonishing coalition that constituted the Janata Party, formed only days after elections had been announced. The party shared its initials with its tutelary deity, Jayaprakash Narayan, the inspirational Gandhian activist around whom opposition to Indira Gandhi had long revolved. It was JP who corralled together the unlikely alliance of socialists, Hindutvists, pro-farmer and pro-business parties, and former Congressis of various stripe, into this peculiar but briefly potent political force. JANATA GRANDEES: Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Madhu Dandavate and others take an oath of unity at Raj Ghat. (India Today archives) The electoral verdict on March 21 was a devastating blow to Mrs Gandhi’s Congress (Congress (R) as it was known then). She lost her own seat in Rae Bareli to Raj Narain, the Socialist who had brought the original election malpractice suit against her, and her party was wiped out in UP and much of the North. The new PM, Morarji Desai, was another old foe, from the ‘Syndicate’ of the Congress right she thought she had vanquished long ago. The 1977 election felt something like a revolution at the time. Among its sideshows was the CPI(M) triumph in West Bengal, opening a 34-year streak of regional dominance that ended only in 2011. Of course, it was nothing like a revolution in the end. But it did offer a wormhole of insight to India’s political future in the decades to come. The astonishing plasticity of political personalities and alliances first seen in the Janata victory still pulses in the coalitions of extremes that have since become a familiar feature of Indian elections. PEOPLE’S VERDICT: Crowds in Delhi gather to watch Lok Sabha poll results being displayed on a scoreboard, March 1977 MAKING A POINT: Atal Bihari Vajpayee speaks at a meeting A 1977 INDIA TODAY cartoon by Ponappa reflects on Indira Gandhi’s political isolation - EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Jan 3, 2026

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1977 polls | The answer to tyranny

Socialists, Hindutvists, pro-farmer and pro-business parties and Congress dissidents all united to hand Mrs Gandhi a devastating blow

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