by shaikh » Thu Jan 08, 2004 11:53 am
please note this was the post missed out few days ago, so this has to go before the PM picked his Cell and spoke to the minister.....
============================
As the PM’s car moved towards the Defense Bhavan, Jethwani’s thoughts flashed back: the journey from Karachi to New Delhi was something of a mixture of pleasant and bitter experiences, hard work, struggle and sacrifice, Jethwani thought about the recent political developments and his life as an immigrant from Karachi (now Pakistan) to New Delhi.
The emergence of India as a self-governing entity had been partly envisioned in the Government of India Act of 1935, and following India's independence in 1947, the Constituent Assembly deliberated over the precise constitutional future of India. On 26 January 1950, India became a Republic, and the Constitution of India was drafted. The Indian National Congress, which had led the country to freedom along with the efforts and sacrifice of many other political and non political groups including the religious groups of the minorities as well as the majority population, remained the largest and most influential party under the stewardship of Jawaharlal Nehru, who served as India's Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964. His 'regime' was marked by the advent of five-year plans, designed to bring big science and industry to India; in Nehru's own language, steel mills and dams were to be the temples of modern India. Relations with Pakistan remained chilling, and the purported friendship of India and China proved to be something of a hoax, when China invaded India's borders in 1962.
Lal Bahadur Shastri, who led the country to something of a victory over Pakistan in 1965, succeeded Nehru; he could not even relish the thought of triumph, dying of a heart attack the day after the treaty was signed. He was succeeded by Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter. By the late 1960s, Indira Gandhi had engineered a split in the Congress, as the only means to ensure her political survival, and the Congress had been reduced to a shadow of its former self. In 1971, India crushed Pakistan in a short war that also saw the birth of Bangladesh, and Indira was now at the helm of her powers. But the shine wore off, and as domestic problems mounted and popular movements directed at her began to show their effect, she resorted to more repressive measures. An internal emergency, which placed almost the entire opposition behind bars, was proclaimed in May 1975, and only removed in 1977; and the same opposition, which hastily convened to chart its strategy, achieved in delivering the Congress party its first loss in national elections. This government, serving various political interests, lasted a mere three years, and Indira Gandhi rode a large wave of victory in 1980. But she did not live to complete her term: shot by her own Sikh bodyguards, who sought to avenge the destruction unleashed upon the Golden Temple, the venerable shrine of the Sikh faith, by Indian government troops given the task of flushing out the terrorists holed in the shrine, she was succeeded by her son, Rajiv Gandhi.
L.K. Jethwani was born on November 08, 1930 in Karachi (now Pakistan). His earlier schooling was at St.Patrick's in Karachi. He later on graduated in Law from Bombay University. Though not a practicing lawyer, he argued and debated on behalf of his political party in 1974 before the Supreme Court in the Presidential reference whether election to the post of President could be held when the Gujarat State Assembly was dissolved. Known for his sophistication and culture, Jethwani is given to a modest life style.
At the time of partition of India into Pakistan and India in 1947, he was the political organiser in Karachi City. After the partition, for several years Jethwani organised his party’s political work in Rajasthan a north western Indian state till 1957 before he moved to Delhi to become the Delhi Jana Sangh (as his party was called) Party Secretary and during this period he was also the Secretary to the Jana Sangh Parliamentary Group.
From the year1970 to 1989 Jethwani was a Member of the Rajya Sabha the upper house in the parliament. In 1989 and again in 1991 he was elected to Lok Sabha that is the lower house. In the same year he was also appointed the Leader of Opposition. He was elected President of Jana Sangh in 1973 and continued untill 1977, before he was appointed Information & Broacasting Minister in the Janata government. During his tenure he freed the media from legislative and executive shackles, he abolished Press Censorship.