Political spoiler brings down second P.M.

Press, 17 July 1979, Page 8

Political spoiler brings down second P.M.

NZPA .■lew Delhi Raj Narain, the Indian political maverick who lit the fuse on India’s latest political crisis, has played a key role in unseating two successive Prime Ministers. It was the colourful Mr Narain, now 62, who defeated the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in her home district during the 1977 General Election that also ended Mrs Gandhi’s eleven years as Prime Minister."

Earlier, Mr Narain had filed the celebrated Allahabad court case accusing Mrs Gandhi of elecHor leading to clamour for her tesignation.

Mr Narain again exhibited his skill as a political spoiler when he quit Morarji Desai’s ruling Janata Party last month, triggering nearly 100 defections from the party during "the past week that finally forced Mr Desai lo resign. However, he is not expected to stake a claim for the country’s top elected post and has repeatedly said ne will not accept a Cabinet post.

“An embarrassing friend but a dangerous enemy,” was how an Opposition leader described Mr Narain,) a scion of the royal Hindu family of Benares, who has * penchant for flamboyance, tweets, and outrageous Itatements. Mr Narain began his climb to fame with the successful

prosecution of Mrs Gandhi for electoral fraud after she defeated him by more than 100,000 votes in the 1971 Parliamentary election. He filed 14 allegations of fraud against her before the Allahabad _ High Court. In June, 1975, she was convicted of two charges involving misuse of Government servants to aid her campaign. This sparked Opposition demands that she should resign. Two weeks later, the Gandhi Government declared a [state of emergency and jailed thousands of political opponents including Mr Desai and Mr Narain. Mr Narain was among the last to be released after Mrs Gandhi announced national elections in January, 1977.

Mr Narain was selected by the Janata Party to fight Mrs Gandhi again and trounced the former Prime Minister by a margin of more than 55,000 votes. Indian newspapers hailed him as “the ladykiller” (sic). After he joined Mr Desai’s Cabinet as Health Minister, Mr Narain advocated celibacy as a way of reducing India’s population of 634 million and recommended drinking ones own urine as a cure-all. His break with Mr Desai came in June, 1977, after he had sought to perform a traditional greeting gesture of applying scent to the Prime Minister on his return from a visit to the United States.

“You are applying scent on me now, but in my absence you were spreading a foul smell," snapped Mr Desai.

A few days later, Mr Narain and his mentor, the Home Minister (Mr Charan Singh) of the pro-farmer taction in the party, were accused of indiscipline and sacked by Mr Desai, Mr Narain then turned a bitter critic of Mr Desai, accusing him of authoritarianism and siding with a Hindu nationalist Janata faction.

Mr Singh was returned to the Cabinet as the Deputy Prime Minister last January in a patch-up bid by Desai. But in June, Mr Narain quit the Janata Party and last Monday the exodus of his followers and friends began.