Surendra Kishore
Defense minister of the sixties V.K. While Krishna Menon was known for socialist ideals, Finance Minister Morarji Desai was considered to be anti-socialist. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had to be with both the leaders within the party. The structure of Congress then was similar. After the 1962 Sino-India war, where Krishna Menon was removed from the post of minister, Morarji Desai was cut from the post of minister under the Kamaraj plan of 1963. In later years Morarji Desai became the Deputy Prime Minister at the Centre.
But Krishna Menon was not even given a Lok Sabha ticket by the Congress party in 1967. While the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wanted to give him a ticket. In fact, till then Indira ji had not established a monopoly on the party. By the way, in the later years i.e. after 1971, Indira Gandhi had a monopoly on both the party and the government. But in the Congress two strong poles like Desai- Menon never became later.
Menon and Desai were quite different from each other even in personal habits. It was a mere coincidence that both were born in the same year i.e. 1896. Morarji Ranchodji Desai, V.K. Krishna was about two months older than Menon. But Morarji lived 21 years longer than Menon. He had a solid reason.
The more careless Menon was in the matter of food, the more restrained Morarji was.
The time and type of Morarji Desai’s meal was fixed. He never shied away from it. Menon used to drink a lot of tea while Morarji never used to drink tea. As Defense Minister VK Krishna Menon agreed with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s view that China could not invade India. It was not without reason that Menon was a hero of the communists of this country. In 1967, the then Prime Minister wanted Menon to get a Lok Sabha ticket from Bombay, from where he had won in 1962. But the party did not give ticket to Menon.
In 1962, Jawaharlal Nehru called film actor Dilip Kumar to campaign to ensure his victory. Later Menon reached the Lok Sabha after winning the elections from West Bengal with the support of the Communists. Morarji Desai’s idea about war was similar to that of Gandhiji. He was also in favor of peace and non-violence. However, as Defense Minister, Menon was of the opinion that India definitely faced a threat from Pakistan.
How much are the leaders of today who are fighting elections in the name of Lohia following him!
When China started encroaching on our borders, the Defense Ministry asked the Finance Ministry for some money so that the army could be equipped. But Finance Minister Morarji Desai turned down the demand of the Defense Ministry. Actually Nehru’s policy was working behind this? The Morarji Desai vs Krishna Menon confrontation and Nehru’s indifference over security preparedness has resulted in the loss of the country.
Due to the defeat of India at the hands of China, this country came to the fore. However, three years later, in 1965, India’s victory in the Indo-Pak war boosted the country’s spirits. After the Bangladesh war in 1971, the spirit had reached the sky. Well after the defeat from China, the demand for the resignation of Defense Minister Krishna Menon intensified across the country. Despite this, Prime Minister Nehru was not in favor of his resignation. After this, President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan called Jawaharlal Nehru to him and asked him to demand Menon’s resignation. Only after that Nehru took Menon’s resignation.
Before that, Menon had also been in trouble over the Jeep purchase scandal. That’s why it became necessary to resign from Menon. On the contrary, Morarji Desai’s stature in politics continued to grow. Indira Gandhi became the Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet. He remained in that post till the split of the Congress. In 1969 there was a great split of the Congress. Indira Gandhi’s Congress (R) was formed and Morarji Desai remained in the organization Congress.
In the 1971 Lok Sabha elections, it was decided that the real Congress was the Congress led by Indira Gandhi. Emergency was imposed in the country in 1975. Morarji Desai remained in jail for 19 consecutive months. Congress lost badly in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. Janata Party got majority. The question arose that who would get the post of Prime Minister? Had to choose between Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram.
Jayaprakash Narayan and J.B. Kriplani put forward Morarji Desai’s name after talking to the MPs. Desai became the Prime Minister. Unlike Menon, Desai was in favor of discipline in every field. Desai wanted there to be discipline in the Parliament as well. He even expected the opposition to extend their power to the people. Morarji Desai used to attach great importance to the Question Hour of Parliament.
Morarji once said that “I give most importance to the hours of questions. All kinds of information related to governance come out in it.” Krishna Menon was more talented than Morarji Desai. But there was neither discipline in his life nor understanding of the soil, politics and society of this country. That’s why the tortoise won and the stand was left behind.
(The writer is a senior journalist and political affairs expert)
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