general election. This is an important programme of our proposed freedom struggle of 1984. To ensure that the party which is the main enemy of the farmers does not benefit by the split in the opposition votes, Sanghatana will select one opposition candidate from each constituency. All farmers and all other citizens who wish to see democracy alive in this country, without any consideration to political affiliation, caste or communal interest, should vote for that opposition candidate announced by the Sanghatana.’ Many in the SS Executive Committee were quite unhappy about this blatant anti-Rajiv stand. They had suggested a nationwide agitation of farmers rather than taking a political stand. But Joshi more or less thrust his decision on others by threatening to go on a 21-day fast. Because of the respect they had for him and their concern for his health, they eventually agreed. However, this created major unrest in SS. Many loyalists parted ways saying that “Joshi before 1984 was acceptable to them, but not the Joshi after 1984.” Rajiv Gandhi won by an overwhelming majority. Elections had taken place for 514 seats of Lok Sabha and by winning 404 which means 79% of those seats, Congress (I) scored an unprecedented victory. Except for the Telugu Desam, a regional party from Andhra Pradesh, all opposition parties were totally wiped off. Maharashtra was no exception to the national trend. As announced earlier, SS had published a list of opposition candidates for all 48 Lok Sabha constituencies but only three candidates endorsed by SS won and all the rest were defeated. Even those three who won, namely Sharad Pawar, Datta Samant and Madhu Dandavate, were powerful candidates in themselves and would have won anyway irrespective of the SS support. All remaining 45 seats were captured by Congress (I). Thus, in the very first elections that took place after SS decided to enter politics, it had to face a total rout. That political failure continued even in future. On Political Front
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