Abstract This article focuses on the interactions among four parties during 1974–77 that led to their combining to form the Janata Party, which represented a united opposition to the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi and her Congress government in January 1977. These inter-party exchanges remain an overlooked episode in the works on the Janata Party, when compared to its much written about the failure in government (1977–79). Forty years on, Janata Party’s formation continues to be understood as a natural and inevitable response to the imposition of emergency by Mrs Gandhi in June 1975. This article, instead, focuses on the engagements among the leaders of the Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD), Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and the Socialist Party (SP) before, during and after the emergency and contends that Janata’s creation was neither a foregone conclusion nor a straightforward process. Second, this coming together of disparate individuals owed more to the possibility of gaining power and personal inclinations than any political principles or policy impulses. Third, while Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) is rightly celebrated as the rival protagonist in oppositional politics to Mrs Gandhi, this article argues that there were limits to his leadership in forging the new party and there was no automatic evolution of the latter from the former. This article is based on the papers of JP and his secretary Brahmanand and, supplemented by other relevant material, shows an unheralded facet of an attempt, which might have come to power on hyperbole but its formation was hard work.

中文翻译：

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Janata Party (1974–77)：建立全印度反对派

摘要 本文关注 1974-77 年间四个政党之间的互动，这些互动导致他们联合组建了贾纳塔党，该党代表了 1977 年 1 月时任总理英迪拉·甘地夫人及其国会政府的统一反对派。与有关政府失败（1977-79）的大量文章相比，交流仍然是关于 Janata Party 的作品中被忽视的插曲。四十年过去了，人民党的成立仍然被理解为对甘地夫人于 1975 年 6 月实施紧急状态的自然和不可避免的反应。 相反，本文重点关注印度人民党 (BLD) 领导人之间的接触，国会（O），印度人民党（BJS）和社会党（SP）之前，在紧急情况期间和之后，并争辩说 Janata 的创作既不是定局，也不是​​一个简单的过程。其次，相较于任何政治原则或政策冲动，不同个体的这种聚集更多地是由于获得权力和个人倾向的可能性。第三，虽然贾亚帕卡什·纳拉扬 (JP) 被认为是甘地夫人反对政治中的敌对主角，但本文认为，他在组建新党方面的领导力是有限度的，而且后者并没有从前者自动演变而来。本文以太平绅士及其秘书婆罗门的论文为基础，并辅以其他相关材料，展示了一种未曾预料的尝试，该尝试可能在夸张上掌权，但其形成却是艰苦的工作。