The Emergency
On the midnight of August 14th and the Midnight of June 25th 28 years apart, viz, 1947 and 1975 two momentous events in the history of India occurred, both of which we cannot forget, and both of which have impacted our history, our thinking and our politics.
On August 14th Midnight – India gained its independence, and on the 25th of June 1975, midnight, an Internal Emergency was imposed on India. It lasted for 21 months until 21st of March 1977. It allowed the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed.
I was not even a thought when India obtained its freedom and a happy go lucky teenager when the emergency was imposed, for the first and hopefully last time. My memories are insignificant, but what I’ve learnt over the years about it, has made me sit up, think and then begin to worry.
A Study in Contrasts:
The Independence of India and the imposition of Emergency connected through contrasts - A father / Daughter combination over saw the two events. The events themselves were preceded by social upheaval among Indians. In the former, the rights of Indians to govern themselves and their fundamental rights to life, liberty and equality were restored, while in the other, the very same rights were restricted and in some cases suspended. While the former encouraged the growth of and expression of dissent, through its various democratic fora, the latter suppressed it, doing what the British rulers did with eagerness, jail those who expressed dissent. One encouraged and facilitated democratic structures and institutions to find their feet, while the other systematically eroded and restricted their contributions to India’s nation hood, and this included the fourth estate, which began to find its feet in independent India and was in the forefront of the social movement against corruption and nepotism, when the Emergency was imposed in 1975.
Lessons Learnt:
During the emergency, a coterie emerged, corruption was rampant as there was no counter to misuse or abuse of power by a few, and institutions were tarnished, but the common refrain is that the trains ran on time and government services were more efficient. While this was welcome, disturbingly, the nation ran on fear. Atrocities were committed, and human rights received short shrift. Democratic Institutions were subverted and dissent suppressed.
The Emergency was indeed a blot on India’s democratic nationhood. It taught us and our laid back political class a few home truths:
a. That India is vibrant democracy with strong foundations built on its independence movement.
b. The People of India will not allow a government to assume powers without adequate checks and balances.
Will the emergency rear its head again?
Is the Emergency is being revisited on its 28th anniversary, covertly perhaps? This is a question that has no immediate answer unless one ascribes a pattern to stray events which may not be the correct thing to do, but has a certain cautious logic to it. It is also not a a question that has, as yet, agitated the hearts and minds of the Indian Citizen, but it might, shortly, if he is not vary and proactive enough to prevent it.
As citizens, in our eagerness to develop ourselves and our surroundings we often miss the trees for the wood, – and the wood indeed does look lovely in the setting sun especially when it is cloaked in a development garb:
1. The suppression of NGO’s and environmental dissent, through restrictions on their funding.
2. The unwillingness to install a powerful Lokpal or to modify the selection process of the Election commission, CVO, and the CBI Director.
3. The reluctance to free the CBI from the clutches of Govt. Control.
4. Covert spying on citizens phone calls and movements on the basis of suspicion of terrorist activity or enhancing their safety.
5. Transfer of Judges hearing sensitive cases.
6. Arrest of citizens criticizing the Prime minister or the Government.
7. Preventing a learned and accomplished jurist from becoming a judge of the supreme court on the basis of directed reports from important government institutions that are expected to be impartial and unbiased and perhaps cannot be.
The fruits of power, are often low hanging enough for most politicians to be tempted to pluck them, the tree be damned. But this time they the political class will be careful…. There will be no midnight proclamation, and extremes will be avoided – for the present. As citizens we must be vigilant to ensure, that history does not repeat itself in its mutant form just as viruses do when they encounter a hostile environment.
On August 14th Midnight – India gained its independence, and on the 25th of June 1975, midnight, an Internal Emergency was imposed on India. It lasted for 21 months until 21st of March 1977. It allowed the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed.I was not even a thought when India obtained its freedom and a happy go lucky teenager when the emergency was imposed, for the first and hopefully last time. My memories are insignificant, but what I’ve learnt over the years about it, has made me sit up, think and then begin to worry.
A Study in Contrasts:The Independence of India and the imposition of Emergency connected through contrasts - A father / Daughter combination over saw the two events. The events themselves were preceded by social upheaval among Indians. In the former, the rights of Indians to govern themselves and their fundamental rights to life, liberty and equality were restored, while in the other, the very same rights were restricted and in some cases suspended. While the former encouraged the growth of and expression of dissent, through its various democratic fora, the latter suppressed it, doing what the British rulers did with eagerness, jail those who expressed dissent. One encouraged and facilitated democratic structures and institutions to find their feet, while the other systematically eroded and restricted their contributions to India’s nation hood, and this included the fourth estate, which began to find its feet in independent India and was in the forefront of the social movement against corruption and nepotism, when the Emergency was imposed in 1975.
Lessons Learnt:
During the emergency, a coterie emerged, corruption was rampant as there was no counter to misuse or abuse of power by a few, and institutions were tarnished, but the common refrain is that the trains ran on time and government services were more efficient. While this was welcome, disturbingly, the nation ran on fear. Atrocities were committed, and human rights received short shrift. Democratic Institutions were subverted and dissent suppressed.
The Emergency was indeed a blot on India’s democratic nationhood. It taught us and our laid back political class a few home truths:
a. That India is vibrant democracy with strong foundations built on its independence movement.
b. The People of India will not allow a government to assume powers without adequate checks and balances.
Will the emergency rear its head again?
Is the Emergency is being revisited on its 28th anniversary, covertly perhaps? This is a question that has no immediate answer unless one ascribes a pattern to stray events which may not be the correct thing to do, but has a certain cautious logic to it. It is also not a a question that has, as yet, agitated the hearts and minds of the Indian Citizen, but it might, shortly, if he is not vary and proactive enough to prevent it.
As citizens, in our eagerness to develop ourselves and our surroundings we often miss the trees for the wood, – and the wood indeed does look lovely in the setting sun especially when it is cloaked in a development garb:
1. The suppression of NGO’s and environmental dissent, through restrictions on their funding.2. The unwillingness to install a powerful Lokpal or to modify the selection process of the Election commission, CVO, and the CBI Director.
3. The reluctance to free the CBI from the clutches of Govt. Control.
4. Covert spying on citizens phone calls and movements on the basis of suspicion of terrorist activity or enhancing their safety.
5. Transfer of Judges hearing sensitive cases.
6. Arrest of citizens criticizing the Prime minister or the Government.
7. Preventing a learned and accomplished jurist from becoming a judge of the supreme court on the basis of directed reports from important government institutions that are expected to be impartial and unbiased and perhaps cannot be.
The fruits of power, are often low hanging enough for most politicians to be tempted to pluck them, the tree be damned. But this time they the political class will be careful…. There will be no midnight proclamation, and extremes will be avoided – for the present. As citizens we must be vigilant to ensure, that history does not repeat itself in its mutant form just as viruses do when they encounter a hostile environment.
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