Why Mrs Gandhi decided to call elections in 1977
Mrs
Gandhi
had
taken
the
constitutional
advantage
and
postponed
the
elections
by
one
year
in
March
1976.
In
November
that
year,
she
again
postponed
it
by
another
year
only
to
reverse
her
decision
two
months
later.
She
announced
that
parliamentary
elections
would
be
held
in
March
1977.
Why
did
she
change
her
decision,
particularly
after
exhibiting
an
intense
craving
for
authoritarian
tendencies?
[Read: The day Indian democracy crumbled: 38 years since Emergency]
[Read: What happened after June 26, 1975]
Probable reasons
She was feeling much secure after the 19-month period of iron rule. Election losses were not haunting her like the pre-1976 days, the intra-party dissent was disciplined by now, the Opposition was jailed and did not have much scope to reach out to the masses in the face of state repression while the differing editors of the newspapers were mostly silenced.
Economic scenario
The
economic
scenario
was
better
in
the
country,
which
also
encouraged
Mrs
Gandhi
to
loosen
the
grip.
Good
grain
yields,
controlled
inflation,
advantage
for
Indian
exporters
owing
the
high
inflation
in
the
West
and
a
healthy
foreign
reserve
meant
that
the
general
mood
was
good
in
the
country.
Way
towards
dynastic
rule
A third significant reason was that the election became necessary for Mrs Gandhi to formally establish her much-desired dynastic rule. Mrs Gandhi was apprehensive on the question of succession in 1977, just as much she was concerned about consolidating her own power base in 1971.
Mrs Gandhi's contradictons
But perhaps the biggest reason which had pushed Mrs Gandhi to take such an apparently surprising call was she herself. Mrs Gandhi had contradictory traits in her personality. She was the daughter of a great democrat and had trainings in democratic ideals in her younger days. Yet, she felt herself to be indispensable, a feeling she might have imbibed by observing her father's status in the party and the government.
Mrs Gandhi had a paranoia that conspiracy was always on against her, which was perhaps shaped by her childhood experiences, and it was a reason for her trying to concentrate all tools of power in the hands of herself and her family. But the paradox meant that amid such feeling, she yet wanted to be a democratic leader for it was an inevitable feature of Indian way of life.
The tug-of-war and the consequent human complexity led Mrs Gandhi to call for an election as she thought it could be an apt opportunity to undo what had been done in the past 19 months and author a fresh chapter. Even though, the expectation that Sanjay Gandhi would succeed her as the top leader of the country showed that she never really get rid of the autocrat in her. A fantastic example of human complexity, indeed.
Mrs Gandhi's expectation was not fulfilled though. The Congress was routed that year and was toppled from governance at the Centre for the first time since Independence. The Janata government led by Morarji Desai formed the first non-Congress government in the history of the nation.