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After the split in the Congress, Indira Gandhi had become politically vulnerable, as her party did not command a majority in the parliament. She was dependent on issue-based support by the two Communist parties, some Socialists, DMK, Akali Dal, and some independents. Yet she acted with courage and ruthlessness. When, in February 1970, the Supreme Court invalidated bank nationalization on the grounds that it was discriminatory and the compensation paid was inadequate, the government used a presidential ordinance to renationalize them after overcoming the legal lacunae. In August 1970, when the government lost by one vote in the Rajya Sabha a constitutional amendment to abolish the privy purses and other privileges of the princes, it issued a presidential order derecognizing the princes and thus ending all their monetary and other privileges. The Supreme Court too however, immediately invalidated this order. The government appointed a Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Commission, under the MRTP Act passed in 1969, to check the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few leading business families. Indira Gandhi asked the chief ministers to implement more rigorously the existing land reform laws and to undertake further land ceilings legislation. The government also launched the much-postponed Fourth Five-Year Plan, its investment outlay being double that of the Third Plan. On 27 December 1970, she dissolved the Lok Sabha and called elections in February 1972, one year ahead of time. The opposition parties—Cong (0), Jan Sangh, Swatantra and the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP)—formed an electoral alliance known as the Grand Alliance. The results of the February elections turned out to be an overwhelming personal triumph for Indira Gandhi and a rude shock to the Opposition. Congress (R) swept the polls, winning 352 of the 518 Lok Sabha seats. This gave the party a two-thirds majority required to amend the Constitution. The Grand Alliance and the Right suffered a crushing defeat. The 1971 elections restored the Congress party to its dominant position in Indian politics. By voting for Congress the people had simultaneously voted for change and stability. Indira Gandhi received the mandate she had sought, and she now became the unchallenged leader of Congress and the dominant political figure in the country. However, the faith the voters, especially the poor, had reposed in her also represented a danger signal. She had raised high hopes among them; and she had now to deliver on her promises, for she had the parliamentary strength to pass any laws, to take any administrative measures, and there could be no alibis or excuses for failure. However, the fulfillment of the mandate of 1971 was again postponed, for, on the morrow of Indira Gandhi being sworn in as prime minister, the Bangladesh crisis occurred. |
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