Janata Party

The Janata Party occupies a pivotal, if indirect, place in the history of the Mumbai underworld as told through the lives of its women criminals. Its rise to power in 1979 marked the end of the Emergency and created the political conditions for the release of the smuggler Haji Mastan, an event that would send ripples through the city's criminal economy. The party's intervention in Mastan's fate is a rare instance in this narrative where formal politics directly and decisively altered the trajectory of a major underworld figure, and through him, the lives of the women connected to him.

The Party's Rise and the Release of Haji Mastan

The Janata Party's ascent to power in 1979 came after the lifting of the Emergency, a period during which Mastan had been detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). His detention had been a severe blow to his influence and finances, leaving him in a sea of debt with his house mortgaged. Upon the party's victory, Mastan pleaded with the Janata Party leader Jaiprakash Narayan to intervene with the then prime minister, Morarji Desai, to show him compassion. Mastan filed affidavits and swore under oath that he would turn over a new leaf. His plea was accepted, and he was finally released from detention, a decision that was brokered by the party's leadership.

The Promise of Reform and Its Consequences

The release came with a condition. Mastan told Jenabai Daaruwali, the bootlegger and his mentor figure, that he had promised Narayan he would become clean. He expressed his desire to leave the illegal business, having spent years behind bars or in court. He confided in her that the only viable business ventures left for him were real estate or the movies. Jenabai, who had been introduced to him years earlier by the Tamilian don Vardharajan Mudaliar and had once been in awe of his bravery, heard him out patiently. His words marked a turning point, as the once larger-than-life smuggler now contemplated a legitimate path, a shift that would define his later years and his interactions with the underworld.

The Janata Party's Place in the Broader Political Landscape

The Janata Party's role in this narrative is set against a backdrop of other political forces that shaped the lives of the women criminals. The party's predecessor, the Indian National Congress, had introduced prohibition in Bombay in 1939, a policy that created the very conditions for bootleggers like Jenabai to thrive. The Janata Party's own rise was part of the same political cycle that saw the Emergency, during which both Mastan and Jenabai were jailed under MISA. The party's intervention for Mastan, therefore, was not an isolated act of compassion but a product of the shifting political winds that alternately criminalized and rehabilitated underworld figures. This dynamic is echoed in the later use of stringent laws like MCOCA, which the Maharashtra government promulgated in 1998 after the abrogation of TADA, a legal environment that would eventually ensnare the wives and associates of gangsters like Chhota Rajan.