The son of a village teacher, Desai was educated at the University of Bombay (now the University of Mumbai) and in 1918 joined the provincial civil service of Bombay as a minor functionary. In 1930 he resigned to join Mohandas Gandhi's civil disobedience movement and spent almost 10 years in British jails during the struggle for independence. During the 1930s and ’40s he alternated prison service with ministerial posts in the government of Bombay, rising to the chief ministerial post in 1952. He gained a reputation for administrative skill as well as for harshness.
In 1956 Desai was named commerce and industry minister in the
Indian government, for which he worked in high capacities until 1963, when he
resigned. He became deputy prime minister in 1967. In 1969 he again resigned to
become chairman of the opposition to Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party. He was arrested in 1975 for his
political activities and detained in solitary confinement until 1977, whereupon he became
active in the Janata Party, a coalition
of four smaller parties. That same year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
unexpectedly held elections after a 19-month suspension of political processes,
and Janata achieved a surprising and overwhelming victory. Desai was chosen to
be prime minister as a compromise candidate among Janata’s
leaders. After two years of political tension, the Janata coalition began to
unravel. Desai announced his resignation on July 15, 1979, after numerous
defections from the coalition in Parliament, to avoid a vote of no confidence.
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