Morarji Desai was born on February 29, 1896 in Bhadeli village, in the Bulsad district of Gujarat. His father was a school teacher and a strict disciplinarian. From his childhood, young Morarji learnt from his father the value of hard work and truthfulness under all circumstances.
He was educated in St. Busar High School and passed his matriculation examination. After graduating from the Wilson college in 1917 he was selected for Civil Service of the then Bombay Province in 1918, he served as a Deputy Collector for twelve years.
In 1930, when India was in the midst of the freedom struggle launched by Mahatma Gandhi, Desai, having lost his confidence in the British sense of justice, decided to resign from Government service and to plunge into the struggle.
He became a member of the All India Congress Committee in 1931 and was Secretary of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee untill 1937. When the first Congress Government assumed office in 1937 he became Minister for Revenue, Agriculture, Forest and Co-operatives in the Bombay Province ministry.
Desai was detained in the individual Satyagraha launched by Mahatma Gandhi, released in October, 1941 and detained again in August, 1942 at the time of the Quit India Movement. He was released in 1945.
After the elections to the State Assemblies in 1946, he became the Minister for Home and Revenue in Bombay. In 1952, he became the Chief Minister of Bombay. In 1963, he resigned from the Union Cabinet under the Kamraj Plan.
In 1967, Desai joined Indira Gandhi’s cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of Finance. In July, 1969, Indira Gandhi took away the Finance portfolio from him. In response felt he had no alternative but to resign as Deputy Prime Minister of India.
When the Congress Party split in 1969, Desai remained with the Organisation Congress. He continued to take a leading part in the opposition. He was re-elected to Parliament in 1971. In 1975, he went on an indefinite fast on the question of holding elections to the Gujarat Assembly which had been dissolved. As a result of his fast, elections were held in June, 1975.
After the judgement of the Allahabad High Court declaring Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha null and void, Desai felt that in keeping with democratic principles, Indira Gandhi should have submitted her resignation. Desai was arrested and detained on June 26, 1975, when Emergency was declared. He was kept
in solitary confinement and was released on January 18, 1977, a little before the decision to hold elections to the Lok Sabha was announced. He campaigned vigour-ously throughout the length and breadth of the country and was largely instrumental in achieving the re-sounding victory of the Janata Party in the General Elections held in March, 1977 for the Sixth Lok Sabha. Desai was himself elected to the Lok Sabha from the Surat constituency in Gujarat. He was later unanimously elected as leader of the Janata Party in Parliament and was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on March 24, 1977.
He resigned from the Priemiership on 15 July 1979 He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1991. He breathed his last on April, 10, 1995.
