Premiership of Morarji Desai
| Morarji Desai ministry | |
|---|---|
 7th cabinet of the Republic of India |
|
 |
|
| Date formed | 24 March 1977 |
| Date dissolved | 28 July 1979 |
| People and organisations | |
| Head of state |
Basappa Danappa Jatti (Acting) |
| Head of government | Morarji Desai |
| Member party | Janata Party (Janata alliance) |
| Status in legislature | Majority |
| Opposition party | Indian National Congress (Congress Alliance) |
| Opposition leader |
Yashwantrao Chavan (1 July 1977– 11 April 1978) C. M. Stephen (12 April 1978 – 9 July 1979) Yashwantrao Chavan (from 10 July 1979) |
| History | |
| Election(s) | 1977 |
| Outgoing election | 1980 |
| Legislature term(s) | 2 years, 4 months and 4 days |
| Predecessor | Second Indira Gandhi ministry |
| Successor | Charan Singh ministry |
The premiership of Morarji Desai extended from 24 March 1977 to 15 July 1979. In the Indian general election, 1977 Morarji Desai led the Janata Party to victory against the Congress party. Upon taking office, Morarji Desai became the first Indian Prime Minister not belonging to the Congress party.
Basappa Danappa Jatti (Acting)
(until 25 July 1977)
The Janata Party was formed by political leaders and activists of various political parties who had been united in opposing the state of emergency imposed in 1975 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After elections were called in 1977, the Janata Party was formed from the union of the Congress (O), Swatantra Party, Socialist Party of India, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Lok Dal. Congress defector Jagjivan Ram, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna & Nandini Satpathy formed the Congress for Democracy and joined the Janata alliance. The widespread unpopularity of Emergency rule gave Janata and its allied a landslide victory in the election.
Rabi Ray was inducted in January 1979 to fill in the vacancy caused by Raj Narain's exit.
The first actions taken by the Desai government were to formally end the state of emergency and media censorship and repeal the controversial executive decrees issued during the Emergency. The Constitution was amended to make it more difficult for any future government to declare a state of emergency; fundamental freedoms and the independence of India's judiciary was reaffirmed. The new government also proceeded to withdraw all charges against the 25 accused in the Baroda dynamite case, which included the new Minister of Industry, George Fernandes. The Minister of Railways reinstated the railway employees disciplined after the May 1974 strike. The Desai government proceeded to establish inquiry commissions and tribunals to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses by members of Indira Gandhi's government, political party and the police forces. Specific inquiries were instituted on Sanjay Gandhi's management of the state-owned Maruti Udyog Ltd., the activities of the former Minister of Defence Bansi Lal and the 1971 Nagarwala scandal. Both Indira and her son Sanjay were charged with allegations of corruption and briefly arrested.
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