9. Suresh Ram sex scandal (1978):
Jagjivan Ram could well have been the first Dalit Prime Minister of independent India, had his son not entrapped in a sex scandal that came to light when everything was going in favour of Jagjivan Ram. Indira Gandhi was defeated in the Janata Party wave in 1977 and Jagjivan Ram was a favourite for the PM post as he had broken away from the Congress and had a good reputation as an experienced politician and able administrator.
Unfortunately for the then deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram, nude pictures of his son Suresh Ram were published in a magazine named ‘Surya' that showed Suresh Ram in compromising positions with a girl named Sushma Chaudhury. What was interesting was the fact that the magazine was edited by none other than Maneka Gandhi, the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi.
Clearly, the pictures had more to it than what met the eyes. In those days, the pictures were taken on an automatic polaroid camera. Jagjivan Ram's political fortunes fell, the Janata Party broke into two, the Morarji Desai government fell and Charan Singh, with the outside support of Congress, became the prime minister.
