Gujarat and Bihar movements

The Gujarat and Bihar movements of the mid-1970s were not isolated student protests. They became mass agitations that directly challenged the Congress party's dominance and the leadership of Indira Gandhi, setting the stage for the Emergency. Both movements arose in Congress-ruled states but quickly took on a national, anti-Congress character.

The Gujarat Movement (January 1974)

Students in Gujarat began an agitation in January 1974 against two connected issues: the steep rise in prices of food grains, cooking oil, and other essentials, and widespread corruption in high places.

• The protest was initially a student-led affair, but major opposition parties soon joined, making it widespread.
• The agitation became so intense that President's rule had to be imposed in the state.
• Opposition parties demanded fresh elections to the state legislature.
• Morarji Desai, a prominent leader of the Congress (O) — the faction that had split from Indira Gandhi's Congress — and a former rival of Indira Gandhi, announced an indefinite fast if fresh elections were not held.
• Under this intense pressure from students and opposition parties, assembly elections were finally held in Gujarat in June 1975.
• Result: The Congress was defeated in this election.

The Bihar Movement (March 1974)

In March 1974, students in Bihar came together to protest a similar set of problems: rising prices, food scarcity, unemployment, and corruption.

• The students invited Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) to lead their movement. JP had retired from active politics years earlier and was involved in social work, notably the Bhoodan (land gift) movement.
• JP accepted the leadership on two conditions:
  1. The movement must remain non-violent.
  2. It would not limit itself to Bihar — it would have a national scope.
• With JP's leadership, the student movement assumed a clear political character and gained national appeal. People from all walks of life joined.
• JP demanded the dismissal of the Congress government in Bihar and gave a call for Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) — a transformation of the social, economic, and political spheres to establish what he considered true democracy.
• A series of bandhs, gehraos (sit-ins), and strikes were organised against the Bihar government, but the government refused to resign.
• The movement began to influence national politics. JP wanted to spread it to other parts of the country.

The Railway Strike of 1974

Alongside the Bihar movement, a separate but significant labour action took place.

• The National Coordination Committee for Railwaymen's Struggle, led by George Fernandes, called for a nationwide strike by all railway employees.
• Their demands related to bonus and service conditions. The government opposed these demands.
• In May 1974, employees of India's largest public sector undertaking went on strike.
• The strike added to the atmosphere of labour unrest and raised fundamental questions about workers' rights and whether employees of essential services should be allowed to strike.
• The government declared the strike illegal, arrested many leaders, and deployed the territorial army to protect railway tracks.
• After twenty days, the strike was called off without any settlement.

The Movement Converges on Delhi

By 1975, the opposition had consolidated around JP.

• JP led a people's march to Parliament, which was one of the largest political rallies ever held in the capital.
• He was now supported by a united front of non-Congress opposition parties: the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the Congress (O), the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the Socialist Party, and others.
• These parties began projecting JP as an alternative to Indira Gandhi.

The Congress Response and the Core Conflict

The Congress and Indira Gandhi viewed these movements not as legitimate protests against state governments, but as a direct, personal attack on her leadership.

• Both the Gujarat and Bihar agitations were seen as anti-Congress movements.
• Indira Gandhi believed the movement was motivated by personal opposition to her.
• In response, the Congress President, D. K. Barooah, gave the famous slogan: "Indira is India, India is Indira" — equating the nation's identity with her leadership. …