The Emergency

Title: The Emergency – A Personal History

Author: Coomi Kapoor

Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9780670087587

Pages: 389

India is admittedly the world’s largest democracy. We use to take pride in it, often made all the more magnificent when compared to other nations comparable in wealth to India. We proved to the world that democracy is not a rich man’s fad. This country’s dedication to democracy is all the more remarkable, considering the prodigious variety of languages, religions, castes and ethnicities. It is no secret that Western democracies are generally single-language, single-religion establishments. Even though Indians have thus a lot to be proud of, they shouldn’t lose sight of the moment in history, forty years ago, when the nation teetered precariously on the edge of falling into the doomed depths of dictatorship under Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. Indira Gandhi is notorious for bringing the country to the threshold of bankruptcy by indulging in unabashed populist measures by exercising government control in all business enterprise and saturating the system with nepotism and corruption. When her chair was threatened by a court verdict, she declared a state of Emergency and assumed autocratic powers. She suspended civil rights, clamped censorship on the media, incarcerated people who protested and ruled with an iron fist. Surprisingly, she could call the shots without much demur from any corner. Coomi Kapoor, a political journalist for 40 years and the consulting editor of the Indian Express, tells the story of the nineteen months of Emergency, which will forever be a blot on the nation’s political history.

Indira Gandhi won a landslide victory in 1971, trouncing her opponents from the split-away faction of Congress. Close on its heels came India’s spectacular victory against Pakistan in the Bangladesh war. Indira’s star was on the ascendant. Even opposition leaders praised her, Vajpayee once likening her to goddess Durga! It just felt that Indira can’t lose an election. But at the same time, she wanted to pep up her popularity further, by bringing in more stringent socialist agenda and economically irresponsible measures in the country’s finances. Privy Purse was abolished and outrageous amounts were earmarked for projects in the public sector that were funneled into the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats. Within two years of her victory, Indira’s hold on the country became tenuous. A veteran freedom fighter and socialist leader, Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), returned to active politics from social work to fight against corruption and degeneration he observed everywhere in India. His protest movement amassed massive public support. Stung by the huge rallies convened by JP and his growing stature, Indira and her son Sanjay decided to put an end to democracy for the time being and impose dictatorial rule. On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court declared Indira’s electoral victory from Rae Bareilly null and void, finding gross violation of electoral procedures and misusing government machinery for her propaganda. She appealed to the Supreme Court, which refused to issue a comprehensive stay order. One June 24, Justice V R Krishna Iyer permitted Indira to continue as prime minister, but restrained her from voting in parliament and drawing the salary of an MP. A few days back, the ruling Congress was voted out of power in the Gujarat assembly. On June 25, JP exhorted total revolution in the country at a gigantic rally in Delhi. This was the proverbial last straw. Unwilling to consider stepping down even for a minute, her coterie decided to declare an Internal Emergency in the country, without even informing the cabinet. Coomie Kapoor has neatly summarized the sequence and establishes that the ruling caucus had long been preparing to enforce something of the sort.

The author lived through the horrors of Emergency, where her own husband was detained under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rules (DIR) which allowed the police to place in custody suspects without judicial review. Indira and her heir apparent Sanjay gagged the media by imposing crippling censorship of the content. The guidelines of news censoring itself couldn’t be made public. Even parliamentary proceedings were cleared only after it passed through the censor. V C Shukla, one of Indira’s protégés who controlled the broadcasting ministry appointed police officers to select the news for publishing. Even then, Indian Express stood rooted to its principles, while The Hindu and the Times of India literally ate out of the government’s hands. L K Advani’s famous remark that the Press crawled when they were only asked to bend refers to these spineless newspapers. Political detainees had a tough time ahead. They were not disclosed the reason of their arrest. Third degree torture was the norm to make them talk. Even when courts allowed bail to them, the released persons were immediately rearrested under some other pretense. Indira never showed any remorse for her repressive tactics in silencing the media. Some of the Supreme Court judges also danced to her tune. In a 4-1 majority verdict, it suspended civil rights including the right to life, in April 1976. Justice H R Khanna, the lone dissenter, lost his promotion as the Chief Justice of India as a result.

Government’s stranglehold on the media was multifaceted. While it bullied those who protested, official advertisements were lavished on the tame. Censors kept a tab on all topics, and didn’t even permit frequent reports of crime appearing in newspapers, so as to prevent the people from reaching the conclusion that crime was surging. Government media sang only the eulogies of the mother and son. All India Radio was jokingly referred to as All Indira Radio. A number of films were produced on them by the Films Division of Information and Broadcasting Ministry. V C Shukla extended his control to commercial films as well. Actresses reported of his unwelcome advances for granting favourable decisions. Singer Kishore Kumar at first refused to toe the official line. His songs were banished from radio and TV till he capitulated. Many MPs were behind bars, which smoothed the government’s way in parliament. Question Hour, Calling Attention motions and parliamentary business initiated by private members were dispensed with. Representation of the People Act was amended retrospectively to prevent the courts from unseating the prime minister. This annulled the verdict of Allahabad High Court which ruled against her. The 42^nd constitution amendment granted Lok Sabha the power to extend its term as it wished, without holding fresh elections.

It is curious to observe the antecedents of a few people and organizations which vociferously trumpet civil rights now, when in fact they were licking the feet of the regime during Emergency. M F Husain portrayed Indira as goddess Durga astride a tiger. This was the height of sycophancy, but court painters in the Middle Ages would have done the same. The Communist Party of India (CPI) sided with the government and shared power with the Congress in some states. Quite probably, they might’ve been operating under instructions from the erstwhile Soviet Union, judging from their lack of compunction in voting into law a slew of measures that tightened the noose around the neck of democracy. D K Barooah, the Congress president, brought out slogans that showed total submission to Indira and her family. His refrain “Indira, teri subah ki jai/ Indira, teri shaam ki jai/ tere kaam ki jai, tere naam ki jai” (Indira, we salute your morning, your evening, your great works and your name) was an instant hit among unthinking Congress workers. The RSS was banned and many of its cadres kept the flame of dissidence alive in the country, but its supreme leader Balasaheb Deoras negotiated with the regime while in jail. Even though advertisements were also scrutinized, a few escaped the censor’s notice and came out. Kapoor mentions an obituary note in an English paper as “D’O Cracy, DEM beloved husband of T. Ruth, loving father of L. I. Bertie, brother of faith, hope and justice, expired on 26^th June”! The date chosen was the date of declaration of Emergency.

Quite unlike other works on Emergency, this book brings out the terrible events through the eyes of a journalist author. The first seven chapters, forming a half of the book narrates the author’s own experiences while the latter half presents character sketches of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan and also the blatant misuse of power and public money in sanctioning loans on flimsy grounds to Sanjay’s indigenous small car project. Another topic of active coverage is Sanjay’s 5-point program that included sterilization. A total of 10.7 million people were forcibly sterilized to fill the quotas Sanjay Gandhi had set. Those who were thus sterilized often included unmarried men. The book is neatly structured and impartial. It includes a collection of photographs of the major actors, a section on Notes and a good Index. Arun Jaitley has penned the Foreword to the book.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star