Janta Curfew Gujarat 1973 – Burning Issues

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Usually Janta Curfew is a ‘Citizen-led curfew’, imposed by citizens themselves against the ruling government.
Throughout India’s history, ‘janata curfews’ have been
used as a form of protest.
Earlier the protest was against the Britishers and later it was a protest against the ruling government.
The idea of ‘janata curfew’ had been borrowed from the 1942 Quit India movement when it was first implemented.

The recent appeal by PM, seemed to have been inspired from his time as a student activist in Gujarat.

Navnirman Andolan
A socio-political movement in 1974 in Gujarat by students and middle-class
It was against economic crisis and corruption in public life.
Chimanbhai Patel became the chief minister of Gujarat in July 1973 replacing Ghanshyam Oza.
There were allegations of corruption against Chimanbhai Patel.
The urban middle class was facing economic crisis due to the high price of food.
Different methods were used by people-
Protest march, street protest, riot, hunger strike, strike.
During the movement, several ‘janata curfews’ were
Janata curfews and protests were seen during a period of 63 days in 23 towns and cities of Gujarat.

Streets were empty and there was no transport during the 1974 movement.
There was limited movement but largely it was not possible to get any vehicle
Narendra Modi, who was a pracharak of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at the time, had also participated in the movement.

This was perhaps the first & only successful agitation after Independence that ousted an elected government through extra-parliamentary mobilization.
Fresh elections were held on 10^thJune, 1975 and the result was declared on 12^thJune.

It led to the creation of Gujarat and Maharashtra from the erstwhile bilingual Bombay State in 1960.
The then-chief minister of Bombay State Morarji Desai called for a week-long fast against the integration of Kutch and
Activist of the freedom movement Indulal Yagnik (Indu Chacha) gave a call for a ‘janata curfew’, urging people to stay at homes and not support Desai.

In 2013, a two-day ‘janata curfew’ was announced by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in Darjeeling to press for their Gorkhaland demand.
The self-imposed curfew brought everything to a halt in Darjeeling.