Jagjivan Ram Jayanti: Who stopped Jagjivan Ram from becoming the first Dalit Prime Minister of the country?

Jagjivan Ram Jayanti 2026: That evening, in the chill of January, both of them, covered with sheets and riding on a rickshaw, reached his bungalow secretly. One of them became the Prime Minister of the country. But the Prime Minister’s chair was not in his destiny at whose bungalow he had reached. She seemed nearby. Then at the last moment someone would make a bet. Had this been possible, he would have been the first Dalit Prime Minister of the country. He was Babu Jagjivan Ram. From Nehru to Shastri, Indira and then Morarji’s cabinet, he was an important minister for a long time. Like every politician, he also wanted a chance to lead the country. Read some stories related to him on his birth anniversary.

Chandrashekhar had come out of jail. But right now all the opposition leaders were closed. The 1977 elections had been declared but the Emergency continued. There was fear everywhere. Some people started meeting Chandrashekhar while avoiding him. During his stay in jail, only a few Congress leaders took care of Chandrashekhar’s family.

Jagjivan Ram, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and Narayan Dutt Tiwari were included in these. Ailing Jayaprakash Narayan was trying to unite the opposition parties. Meanwhile, one day suddenly Hemwati met Nandan Bahuguna Chandrashekhar. He hinted at leaving Congress and forming a new party. Chandrashekhar called it good but said it was necessary to meet more leaders. Chaudhary Charan Singh had also been released. Bahuguna’s decision made him happy.

Bahuguna-Jagjivanram’s connected strings

Bahuguna, who had lost the post of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh due to Sanjay Gandhi’s displeasure during the Emergency, was preparing to give a big blow to the Congress. He had linked up with Jagjivan Ram, the biggest Dalit face of that era. Jagjivan Ram, who continuously held important responsibilities in the cabinet from Nehru’s interim government to Shastri and Indira Gandhi, was the biggest Dalit face of the Congress. Till that time Kanshi Ram-Mayawati’s BSP had not been born.

For a long time, Jagjivan Ram was considered to have played an important role in keeping the Dalit vote bank in favor of Congress. After Indira Gandhi’s Lok Sabha election was canceled by the Allahabad High Court on June 12, 1975, those within the Congress who were talking about Indira ji’s resignation were of the opinion that the chair of the Prime Minister should be handed over to Jagjivan Ram until a favorable decision is received from the Supreme Court. However, Sanjay Gandhi completely rejected the advice of resignation.

Jagjivan Ram’s promise of support to Chandrashekhar

Jagjivan Ram remained in the government during the Emergency. What was going on inside him was different but obviously he supported the Emergency. He had also presented its proposal in the Parliament. But with the announcement of elections, he had made up his mind to leave the support of Indira, whom he had not only supported during the historic split of Congress in 1969 but had also led the Indira faction as the President.

How secret was Jagjivan Ram’s preparation to leave Indira Gandhi’s side, Chandrashekhar has mentioned in his autobiography, “Jeevan Jaisa Jiya”. He wrote, “I came to know from Bahuguna ji that Babu Jagjivan Ram wanted to talk to me. We both sat on a rickshaw. It was a winter night. Covered with a sheet, we secretly went to Jagjivan Ram’s house. At that time there was no atmosphere to do anything openly.

There was an emergency. We had come out of jail. But the shadow of Emergency was always ahead of us. Jagjivan Babu was suspicious. As soon as we met, he held my hand and said that he had decided to leave the Congress. We will live together. The future lies in this. I said, Jagjivan Babu, if you stay with us, it will bring a big change. He said, trust me, I will give you full support.

Janata Party joins CFD

On January 23, Indira Gandhi announced that elections would be held in March 1977. On the same day, Jayaprakash Narayan announced to be ready to contest against the Janata Party, which came into existence by the merger of Jan Sangh, Congress (O), Socialist Party and Lok Dal. Then, after a gap of just ten days, on February 2, another big explosion took place in the country’s politics. Leaders like Jagjivan Ram, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Nandini Satpathy, Professor Sher Singh etc. left the Congress and formed a new party, Congress for Democracy (CFD). The most surprising name in this party and the one which left a big impact especially among the Dalit voters was that of Jagjivan Ram. Jagjivan Ram’s loyalty towards Congress and Nehru family was beyond question till now.

He remained trusted by Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi. But Sanjay Gandhi’s rise and working style during the Emergency shook his loyalty towards the Gandhi family. There was uncertainty about the results. But experienced leaders like Jagjivan Ram had experienced the public anger due to the excesses of the Emergency. They were preparing to board the boat which was bound to run aground.

Jagjivan Ram is among the leaders who attract the biggest crowd.

Of course, at that time there was no electronic and social media era like today. There was government control over All India Radio. Newspaper and BBC. Were the biggest sources of news. But the echo of Jagjivan Ram’s decision reached far and wide very quickly. This created a stir especially among the Dalit community of North India.

The support of Jagjivan Ram gave great strength to the Janata Party. Soon his new party merged with the Janata Party. Jagjivan Ram was among the leaders who attracted the biggest crowd in the election campaign of Janata Party. The Janata wave of 1977 ousted Indira Gandhi. Congress was wiped out from North India. According to the results declared on March 20, the Janata Party got a clear majority with 295 seats. Congress was reduced to 154 seats.

Jana Sangh’s support for Dalit Prime Minister’s wish

The next question was who would be the Prime Minister in the new government? Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh were the contenders. So to speak, the parties had merged into the Janata Party, but everyone had accounts of their constituent’s MPs. 93 from erstwhile Jan Sangh, 71 from Charan Singh’s Lok Dal, 44 from Congress (O), C.F. D. and Socialist Party had 28 MPs each. Interestingly, no leader of the largest constituent Jan Sangh was a contender for the post of Prime Minister.

Morarji was involved in the unsuccessful race of Congress during the time of Pandit Nehru. This time they were not ready to back down. Charan Singh considered himself the most suitable. At this time, Jagjivan Ram was getting the biggest strength from the Jan Sangh constituents who, despite his support for the Emergency, were in his favor in their desire to see a Dalit on the chair of the Prime Minister.

Charan Singh’s political moves from hospital

Jagjivan Ram’s weight was also being weighed by those members who, to the extent of their stubbornness, did not want to see the principled Morarji on this chair. He also had the support of socialist members. Of course Jayaprakash Narayan did not contest the elections. He was away from active politics. But he was at the center of the fight against Emergency and the victory of Janata Party. Everyone’s eyes were on his stance. He reached Delhi from Mumbai on 23 March.

On March 24, MPs and leaders of the Janata Party gathered at Bapu’s Samadhi at Rajghat to take an oath for the restoration and betterment of democracy. JP administered this oath while sitting on a wheel chair. The leader whose most significant absence was on this occasion was Charan Singh. Although the reason for this was said to be illness. But the leaders do politics even while being hospitalized. Charan Singh was making his moves while staying in the hospital.

Charan Singh’s letter took him out of the race

While both Morarji and Charan Singh were in the fray, Jagjivan Ram had an edge among the elected members. Charan Singh found himself lagging behind. He did not want either Morarji or Jagjivan Ram. But when it became a compulsion to choose one among them, he rejected Jagjivan Ram. His letter from the hospital turned the tables. Through this he informed Morarji Desai about his support. Jagjivan Ram was out of the race. JP and Acharya Kripalani announced Morarji’s name. Charan Singh became Deputy Prime Minister. Later, after much persuasion, Jagjivan joined the Ram government as Deputy Prime Minister.

This time President Reddy became an obstacle

On 24 March 1977, Morarji took oath as Prime Minister. This government collapsed on 15 July 1979. Charan Singh, who blocked Jagjivan Ram’s path and made Morarji the Prime Minister, had a decisive role in bringing down the Janata Party government. Chaudhary Charan Singh, who had the support of 64 MPs, was given 13 days’ time by President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy to gather majority. He took oath on July 28 with the support of Congress and some others. Indira Gandhi’s mission to break the Janata Party had been accomplished.

A day before the beginning of the Parliament session, Congress withdrew support from Charan Singh’s government. On August 20, Charan Singh submitted his resignation to the President. Once again Jagjivan Ram’s path seemed clear. He received information about the support of 205 MPs of Janata Party from President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy. Claimed to gather full majority before the President soon. Reddy said he was in no hurry. The next day on 21st August, Reddy and Chandrashekhar met. Reddy sneered at the question of support, “How will you do this? By encouraging defection!” Chandrashekhar had replied sarcastically, “Why does someone who has nominated a turncoat as Prime Minister have any objection to this?”

On the morning of 22 August, Jagjivan Ram and Chandrashekhar once again met the President. On return, he started preparing the list of supporters in the party office. But Reddy had something else in mind. In the afternoon he announced the dissolution of Parliament. There was a lot of uproar against this decision of the President. But now everything was meaningless. For the second time too, the post of Prime Minister remained beyond the reach of Jagjivan Ram.

The results of 1980 broke the magic of popularity.

The divided Janata Party had contested the 1980 Lok Sabha elections with the face of Babu Jagjivan Ram in the forefront. In reality, this was a test of his personal popularity and support base. In this election, Janata Party could win only 32 seats, out of which 19 belonged to Jan Sangh component. After the defeat, the discord among the remaining Janata Party intensified. The controversy of dual membership heated up once again.

The people of Jan Sangh were told that either Janata Party or RSS. Choose one in. Efforts for unity of party president Chandrashekhar and Morarji failed. On April 4, 1980, the National Executive of the party decided by 17 votes against 14 that in order to remain in the Janata Party, the people of Jan Sangh should join the RSS. Will have to be sacrificed. Interestingly, Jagjivan Ram, who led the protest against the Sangh, the very next day Y. Joined Congress (U) led by B. Chavan.

Defeated in 1984 on a seat he had won continuously since 1952.

Born on 5 April 1908 in Chandawa village of Bhojpur in Bihar, Jagjivan Ram passed Intermediate with science subject from Banaras Hindu University. Earned a bachelor’s degree from Calcutta University. He joined Congress in 1931. In 1934-35, he made an important contribution in establishing the All Exploited Classes League to provide equal rights to the Dalits. He took an active part in the freedom movements of 1940 and 1942 and got arrested.

In 1936, at the age of 28, he was named a member of the Bihar Legislative Council. In 1937, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Development in the Bihar Government. He was an important minister in the Union Cabinet continuously from 1952 to 1979. He won the Lok Sabha elections from 1952 to 1980. Jagjivan Ram was also among the opposition stalwarts who were defeated in the sympathy wave of 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In this election, he was defeated by Ramadhin Singh of Congress on his traditional Sasaram seat. He died on 6 July 1986.

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