Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai is a recurring political figure in Saleem Sinai’s account of India and Pakistan, associated with opposition to a Nehru political succession, wartime appeals, and the challenge to Indira Gandhi’s government. His interventions are presented both as concrete political actions and as part of the novel’s pattern of correspondences, in which national events and private lives seem to move toward related turning points.

Identity and Political Context

After Jawaharlal Nehru’s death, Desai joined Finance Minister Morarji Desai’s fellow opponent Jagjivan Ram in resisting the establishment of a Nehru dynasty. In Saleem’s account, their opposition helped prevent Indira Gandhi from becoming the new leader; Lal Bahadur Shastri instead became Prime Minister. The episode places Desai within a struggle over succession, while the narration contrasts the apparent permanence of political figures with the passage of time that eventually proves them mortal.

Desai later appears in the political unrest of the mid-1970s. In Gujarat, amid riots and the burning of railway trains, he undertook a fast intended to bring down the state government led by Chimanbhai Patel. The account says that the campaign succeeded without Desai having to die. In 1974, Desai and Jayaprakash Narayan formed the Janata Morcha, or People’s Front, as an opposition force. These actions place him not only in national-level political maneuvering but also in a movement arising amid regional protest and public anger.

War and Public Appeals

During the public enthusiasm surrounding the war with China, Desai launched an appeal called “Ornaments for Armaments.” Amina Sinai responded by giving gold bangles and emerald earrings, while Ahmed Sinai bought defense bonds in large quantities. The family’s contributions are narrated as part of a nationwide surge of optimism that Saleem regards as dangerous: confidence in national unity and military success grows even as the country moves toward defeat.

The scene links political rhetoric to material acts. Desai’s appeal translates the language of national defense into the surrender of personal valuables and the purchase of government bonds. Saleem places those gestures beside a newspaper cartoon in which Nehru celebrates supposed improvements in emotional integration, industrial peace, and public faith. The contrast makes the parents’ participation one instance of a broader public mood that the narration portrays as uncritical and precarious.

Opposition and Political Change

In the mid-1970s, Desai’s fast in Gujarat and the Janata Morcha’s formation give organized political expression to rising opposition. The novel places this activity beside accounts of corruption, inflation, hunger, illiteracy, and landlessness in Bihar, where Jayaprakash Narayan led a coalition of students and workers against the governing Indira Congress. It also describes unrest in Gujarat, where the campaign against the state government succeeded. Desai’s role belongs to this wider picture of discontent, rather than being presented as an isolated act.

During Parvati’s thirteen-day labor, the narration repeatedly sets political developments beside events in the household. On the ninth day, Saleem’s imagined silence around the labor coincides with Jayaprakash Narayan calling on President Ahmad to dismiss Indira Gandhi. On the twelfth, the Supreme Court rules that Gandhi need not resign while her appeal proceeds, but bars her from voting in the Lok Sabha or drawing a salary. On the thirteenth day, as Parvati begins to push, Narayan and Desai urge the police and Army to disobey what they regard as the disqualified Prime Minister’s illegal orders. The political confrontation intensifies at the same time that Saleem awaits the birth of his son.

Narrative Role and Significance

The parallel between political struggle and childbirth is a formal feature of Saleem’s narration, not evidence that Desai directly participates in the family’s private events. The repeated language of urging and pushing binds the Janata Morcha’s confrontation with Gandhi to Parvati’s labor, making a national crisis and a family birth seem to reach their climax together. The account culminates in the arrest of opposition leaders, including Desai and Narayan, alongside the birth of Aadam Sinai and the announcement of the Emergency. Desai’s political role thus appears within a narrative that turns simultaneous public and private events into a charged correspondence.

Across these episodes, Desai is connected to distinct forms of opposition: resisting a political dynasty, mobilizing support for defense during wartime, fasting against a state government, and joining an organized challenge to Indira Gandhi. The outcomes differ in scale and circumstance, but Saleem’s telling repeatedly places political action beside its consequences for ordinary people and family life. This juxtaposition gives Desai a recurring role in the novel’s account of political change without making him the central character of those events.