The Congress for Democracy (CFD) was an Indian political party founded in 1977 by Jagjivan Ram. It was formed after Jagjivan Ram, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, and Nandini Satpathy left the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

and denounced her rule during the Indian Emergency. The party contested the

1977 Indian general election General elections were held in India between 16 and 20 March 1977 to elect the members of the sixth Lok Sabha. The elections took place during the Emergency period, which expired on 21 March 1977, shortly before the final results were announc ...

with the Janata alliance and later merged with it.

Formation

Jagjivan Ram was a senior politician within the

and had been a loyalist of

. He had held various cabinet posts, and had served India's defence minister during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He was also the most prominent Scheduled Caste or

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

politician in the nation. Ram had stayed loyal to Indira after she imposed a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

in 1975. However, the state of emergency had proven widely unpopular and upon calling elections in 1977, it became apparent that Indira's

could suffer defeat. Consequently, Ram and his supporters resigned from the government and the

in January 1977, denouncing

and her Emergency rule. The Congress for Democracy was launched on 2 February 1977. Jagjivan Ram became the president of the party and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna became the party general secretary. Other co-founders included the former Chief minister of Mysore (Now

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

) Kadidal Manjappa, who later became Party President, former Chief Minister of Orissa Nandini Satpathy, former Union Minister of State for Finance K. R. Ganesh, former M.P. Dwarka Nath Tiwary and

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

i politician Raj Mangal Pandey.

1977 election

Although the new party was mocked by Indira's

as the "Congress for Defectors" Jagjivan Ram's support was actively courted by the opposition

Janata party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

alliance as he was the most influential Scheduled Caste leader in the country. While the Congress for Democracy agreed to jointly campaign and contest the election with the

, it stated that it would maintain a separate organisation and identity. In the 1977 elections, the Janata-CFD alliance won 298 seats, ousting the

from power for the first time in 30 years. The Congress for Democracy itself won only 28 seats, but its role in raising significant support for the Janata alliance amongst India's Scheduled Caste communities, formerly a loyal Congress base, earned it considerable influence in the formation of a new government.

Merger with Janata

Along with

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

and Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram was a leading candidate to become the new

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

as head of the Janata-CFD coalition. Seeking to avoid a divisive contest, Janata leaders asked Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), who was seen as the spiritual leader of the party, to choose the leader, pledging to abide by his choice. When JP chose Desai, the CFD expressed criticism at the un-democratic selection of the leader and hesitated about joining the government. However, JP and Desai coaxed Ram into joining the government as a Deputy Prime Minister of India and Minister of Defence. H. N. Bahuguna joined the Cabinet as Minister of Petroleum and Chemicals. On 5 May 1977 the Congress for Democracy announced its intention to merge its organisation with the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

Post-Janata

Despite joining the ranks of the

, CFD politicians remained specifically loyal to Jagjivan Ram. When Ram withdrew his support for the Desai government in 1979, he was supported by a significant number of former CFD MPs. With the fall of the Janata government in 1979-80, Ram and his supporters formed the Congress (J) - "J" standing for "Jagjivan", which maintained a small presence in the Indian Parliament. Bahuguna rejoined the Congress (I) for a brief period before founding Socialist Democratic Front.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in India Political parties established in 1977 1977 establishments in India Political parties disestablished in 1977 1977 disestablishments in India Indian National Congress breakaway groups

Formation

1977 election

Merger with Janata

Post-Janata

See also

References