Morarji Desai Prime Minister of India | ||
Term in Office: | March 24, 1977 - July 15 1979 | |
Predecessor: | Indira Gandhi | |
Successor: | Choudhary Charan Singh | |
Date of Birth: | February 29, 1896 | |
Place of Birth: | Bhadeli, Gujarat | |
Date of Death: | April 10, 1995 | |
Political Party: | Janata Party |
He was arrested in 1975, when Indira Gandhi had declared Emergency. When general elections were held in 1977, he led the opposition Janata Party to power. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the foreign minister in this government. Due to numerious defections from his government, he handed in his resignation 2 years later.
Morarji Desai was a strict follower of Gandhi's principles and a moralist. It is also rumoured that he used to drink his own urine (colloquially known as "Morarji Cola", a slang term/in-joke among the masses) to keep good health. He died at the age of 99.