Janata Party

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The Janata Party (JP, lit. 'People's Party') is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jai Prakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress (R). They included the conservative Indian National Congress (Organisation), the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the liberal to social-democratic Bharatiya Lok Dal (formed in 1974 by the merger of the conservative-liberal Swatantra Party, the conservative Bharatiya Kranti Dal, the Samyukta Socialist Party and the Utkal Congress) and the Socialist Party, as well as later defectors from the Indian National Congress. Raj Narain, a Socialist, had filed a legal writ alleging electoral malpractice against Indira Gandhi in 1971. On 12 June 1975, Allahabad High Court found her guilty of using corrupt electoral practices in her 1971 election victory over Narain in the Rae Bareli constituency. She was barred from contesting any election for the next six years. Economic problems, corruption and the conviction of Gandhi led to widespread protests against the government, which responded by imposing a State of Emergency. The rationale was that of preserving national security. However, the government introduced press censorship, postponed elections and banned strikes and rallies. Opposition leaders such as Narain, J. B. Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, Anantram Jaiswal, Chandra Shekhar, Biju Patnaik, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Ramnandan Mishra and Morarji Desai were imprisoned, along with thousands of other political activists. When the Emergency was lifted and a new election called in 1977, opposition leaders joined to form the JP. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress (R) and JP leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime...