Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the presentsignificant events, personalities, issues

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MORARJI DESAI

PM remembers former PM Shri Morarjibhai Desai.

Important points:

Morarji Desai’s birth anniversary falls on 29 February.
Morarji Desai was born in Bulsar, District (now known as Valsad) in Gujarat.
After graduating from Wilson College, Bombay (now Mumbai), he served as the Deputy collector of Godhra. He resigned from the post in 1930.
After that, he became part of the Indian freedom struggle and joined the Civil Disobedience Movement against British rule.
Shri Desai was imprisoned thrice during the freedom struggle.

Prime Minister Morarji Desai

The Janata Party won in the general elections held in March 1977 for the sixth Lok Sabha. Desai was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Surat constituency in Gujarat.
He was later unanimously elected as the leader of the Janata Party in Parliament and sworn in as the Prime Minister on March 24, 1977.
Shri Desai was India’s prime minister from March 24, 1977, till July 28, 1979.
He was the first Indian Prime Minister who did not belong to the Indian National Congress.
He was also the world’s oldest person to become the Prime Minister (aged 81), a record which he holds till date.
He condemned Indira Gandhi’s rule as dictatorial.
He tried to re-position India as a non-aligned state, countering what he saw as too close a relationship with the Soviet Union by improving links with the United States, hosting a visit from Jimmy Carter in 1978.
Visiting the Soviet Union in June 1979, he expressed India’s opposition to the occupation of Afghanistan.
He improved relations with China, frozen since a border dispute in 1962.
He worked to improve relations with the neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan.
His government undid many amendments made to the constitution during the emergency and made it difficult for any future government to impose a national emergency.