Dehradun: The Uttarakhand unit of Congress is seeing the party's present situation akin to that witnessed in 1977 after which, it emerged with a double strength.
There are five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand and voting will be held on April 19. The Congress is hoping for a miracle to happen despite the continuous setbacks the party has been receiving with some of its leaders joining the BJP.
A similar situation rose in the state in 1977. In 1975, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had imposed Emergency in the country and the Lok Sabha elections were held immediately after that. The impact of the Emergency was such that several heavyweight leaders left the Congress and joined the Janata Party, which was formed by all the opposition parties namely Jan Sangh, Congress (O), Bharatiya Lok Dal and Socialist Party. During the Lok Sabha elections in 1977, the Janata Party came to power with majority and Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister. At that time, Indira Gandhi lost her traditional Rae Bareli seat.
There were four seats in Uttarakhand, which was in Uttar Pradesh at that time and all were won by the Janata Dal. These seats were Tehri, Almora, Nainital and Garhwal.
Congress leader, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, who was the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh had left the Congress and joined the Janata Party. Due to the Emergency, there was a lot of anger against the then Prime Minister and several senior Congress leaders joined the Janata Party. Although Janata Party formed the government in the 1977, it could last only for three years.
Congress made a strong comeback in 1980. During the elections held in 1980, many leaders including Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna returned to Congress. Congress had then actively engaged the youth to win the Lok Sabha elections. All the opposition leaders became part of the Congress, resulting which, Congress returned to power.
Congress leaders of Uttarakhand expect a similar electoral outcome in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Many senior Congress leaders of Uttarakhand are leaving the party and joining BJP. Congress leaders are asserting that Congress will not end, but instead emerge with greater strength like in 1980.
Prior to the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, all the leaders who had joined the Janata Party in 1977 returned to the Congress. Thus, Congress's Harish Rawat won the Almora Lok Sabha seat, ND Tiwari won the Nainital Lok Sabha seat, Trepan Singh Negi won the Tehri Lok Sabha seat and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna won the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat.
Remembering the incident, senior Congress leader Hira Singh Bisht said he had then contested from Tehri Lok Sabha seat. Sanjay Gandhi had asked him to contest elections from Tehri Lok Sabha seat but a senior Congress leader, who joined the Janata Party, defeated him. He said that Congress faced a huge defeat. But it did not accept its defeat and instead united the youth and then elections were held in 1980 and Congress once again came to power with a majority, he said.
"At present PM Narendra Modi is very powerful and using its power to bring the Congress leaders to the BJP fold. BJP has told these leaders that if they speak against them, they will go to jail. In such a situation, all the senior Congress leaders forgot the fight for self-respect and ran to BJP to save themselves. BJP is exposing the shortcomings of the leaders with the spirit of revenge," he said.
Political expert Jai Singh Rawat said that after the Emergency, all senior leaders of the Congress had joined other parties and contested elections from Janata Party and former UP Chief Minister Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna was also included among them. "It is said that history repeats itself, so it is possible that history will repeat itself again. But it is not necessary that it be exactly in the same way," he added.
1977 Lok Sabha poll results:
- Murli Manohar Joshi from Janata Party won from Almora Lok Sabha seat defeating Congress candidate Narendra Singh Bisht
- Bharat Bhushan from Janata Party won from Nainital Lok Sabha seat while Congress candidate KC Pant, son of Govind Ballabh Pant, was defeated.
- Trapan Singh Negi, who left Congress and joined Janata Party, won from Tehri Lok Sabha seat defeating Congress candidate Hira Singh Bisht.
- Jagannath Sharma, who quit Congress and joined Janata Party, won from Garhwal Lok Sabha seat and Congress's Chandra Mohan Singh lost.
Congress leaders believe that the party returned to power in 1980 because it united with youths and all leaders. They feel that the India bloc, comprising leaders of opposition parties, will work in their favour in the elections.
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