FORTY YEARS AGO

RAM JOINS CABINET

CONGRESS FOR DEMOCRACY leader Jagjivan Ram is the new defence minister while H.N. Bahuguna was made minister of chemicals and fertiliser in the Morarji Desai government. George Fernandes will head the communications ministry, Raj Narain the Ministry of Health and Family Planning and Brij Lal Verma the Ministry of Industries. Prakash Singh Badal, who earlier held the communications portfolio, was shifted to the Ministry of Agriculture. The CFD will join the Janata in Parliament, but retain its separate identity outside. Ram said he had taken the decision to join the government in deference to Jayaprakash Narayan’s wishes.

REVOLT AGAINST SANJAY

AS MANY AS 125 Congress members of Parliament and legislatures met at the house of Charanjit Yadav and demanded the expulsion of Sanjay Gandhi, Bansi Lal, V.C. Shukla and Om Mehta from the Congress. They also sought the resignation of the Congress president, D.K. Barooah. The meeting was presided over by Amarnath Vidyalankar and attended by Priya Das Munshi, H.D. Malaviya, Himmatsinh, K.P. Unnikrishnan and Vayalar Ravi among others.

J&K GOVT DISMISSED

GOVERNOR L.K. JHA dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir assembly and imposed governor’s rule. Jha said Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah advised the dissolution of the assembly. He had also received intimation of the withdrawal of support from the Congress to the Abdullah government.

EMERGENCY REVOKED

THE MORARJI DESAI government revoked the external emergency proclaimed on December 3, 1971, the night of the first Pakistani attack on the western front. The internal Emergency proclaimed on June 25, 1975, allegedly to “save the nation from chaos” was revoked last Monday. It was the last act of the outgoing Indira Gandhi government.