Remembering Morarji

Current and former parliamentarians will gather in the Central Hall of Parliament at 10.30 am on Tuesday to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, a day before his official day of birth. Desai served as the prime minister of India from 1977 to 1979. He was born on February 29, 1896, and died nearly a century later in April 1995. If celebrated according to his official birth date, Desai’s birth anniversary can only be celebrated once in four years but the practice adopted in Parliament is to mark it on February 28. There is another reason for the Narendra Modi government to mark the birth anniversary of Desai. The last time when a currency note was demonetised was during the Desai-led Janata Party government in 1978. The Morarji government had demonetised Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 currency notes.