Topic started by Mani M. Manivannan (@ sji-ca-cache2.icg.net) on Sat Jun 24 19:41:28 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

The sunday edition of The Hindu runs an article ( http://www.the-hindu.com/2000/06/25/stories/13250831.htm )on the infamous emergency declaration by Madame Gandhi and its effects on the Indian politics. It is interesting to remember that the Hindu was oblivious to the emergency and largely continued to operate as though there was no change. It faithfully reported the activities of Sanjay Gandhi, the 20 point program, Madame's pronunciations, all without murmur. Yes, trains ran on time, government offices opened on time and even appeared to function. People were terrified of government "spies" lurking everywhere, even in Tamilnadu that was condemned as an "island of indiscipline" by Madame Gandhi. Colleges and student leaders were closely monitored. We all got to live in an Orwellian nightmare. Of course now the communists claim that they never supported the emergency! And the Hindu will run articles without acknowledging its cowardly role during that period. Will that happen again? If it does, will the authoritarians be foolish enough to risk an election again? Emergency and its aftermath transformed the Indian nation in fundamental ways. Tell us your impression of this event.

Responses:

• From: gd (@ mail.smart20.com) on: Sun Jun 25 14:38:25 EDT 2000
  
  What happened? No soul has interest in discussing very important issues like this. No wonder India is getting in to trap like this very often.
  OK let me start.
  
  
  The declaration of emergency and the stand taken by the other democratic institutions aftermath of emergency only exposes the kind of democracy the Indian Constitution offers to the Indian public.
  
  The elected rulers having an autocratic tendency, is not at all a major sin but a natural human phenomena. But if the checks and balances are there in the form of other independent democratic institutions like Judiciary, those autocratic tendencies would have been curtailed. If there has been a independent, fearless Judiciary and if the Nehru’s undemocratic dismissal of Namboothribhat govt in kerala, was challenged and reversed, I don’t think Indira would have dared to declare the emergency. In the first case itself the Judiciary failed, the media failed. Indian constitution, I think, was written with a mind that only angels will come to rule and the angels should not be countered with the creation of checks and balances. That is the mindset even now when we read about the declaration of emergency, we read about how one Indira, an individual, who is supposed to be an angel, failed, but never about how the other democratic institutions failed during that same time.
  Even this remembrance of the anniversary of emergency declaration has two clear political agenda and definitely not in the interests of grooming the democratic ideals but to attack the political enemies. In case of BJP, it is a tool to attack Cong(I) and in case of communists with a left leaning media like Hindu , it is a tool to warn and create fear psychosis about how worst the BJP can be turned in to if it is grown much. As long as the other third or four pillars of democracy are dependent and subservient to the first pillar namely the elected assembly or its leader, it is not at all a true democracy and India is definitely one such fake democracy and these emergency declarations are mere reflections of that .
  
  
• From: gd (@ mail.smart20.com) on: Sun Jun 25 20:38:01 EDT 2000
  
  A supporter's version
  
  --------------------------------------------
  
  
  Why I Supported Emergency
  
  Even Acharya Vinoba Bhave supported it when it was imposed. But it soon degenerated into a monster that had to be suppressed for ever.
  
  By Khushwant Singh
  
  EMERGENCY has become a synonym for obscenity. Even men and women who were pillars of Emergency rule and misused their positions to harass innocent people against whom they had personal grudges try to distance themselves from their past in the hope that it will fade out of public memory forever. We must not allow them to get away with it. Because of them many mistakes were made which must be avoided the next time conditions require suspension of democratic norms for the preservation of law and order.
  
  http://www.outlookindia.com/20000703/features1a.htm
  
  
  
• From: Mani M. Manivannan (@ sji-ca-cache2.icg.net) on: Sun Jun 25 22:42:44 EDT 2000
  
  Dravid,
  
  Things were much worse. It is not just judiciary alone that failed. Every democratic institution in India failed on that day. The Presidency was mute. Judiciary went along with the mass-scale arrests of parliamentarians. The bureaucracy enthusiastically supported it. The armed forces accepted this pseudo-emergency.
  
  In those days Karunanidhi was far more defiant. He stood upto the central government and allowed the press to cover the events with a lot of freedom. He was to pay a heavy price later. Mrs. Gandhi referred to Tamilnadu and Gujarat, the only opposition ruled states, as islands of indiscipline and dismissed their governments. Just as she did to the national leaders opposed to her policies, she arrested the Tamilnadu politicians and gave them a thrashing that they would never forget. Only Mr. Karunanidhi and Mr. Kamaraj escaped arrest. There were rumors that Mr. Kamaraj committed suicide despondent over his role in bringing Mrs. Gandhi to power.
  
  I am still amazed that the Indian system was so vulnerable to such manipulation. If you read the archives of the Hindu of those days, you will not detect anything amiss during that period. The Indian express defiantly left the censored pages blank (the opposition Sinhalese press is reacting to the current censorship in much the same way today).
  
  The universities, normally the hotbeds of radicalism were easily tamed. Every college, every hostel was apparently being watched and rumors were rife that people criticising the government were "disappearing." Professors advised us all to keep our thoughts to ourselves and pretend that everything was normal. As it turned out, even central cabinet ministers were not immune.
  
  As Sanjay Gandhi correctly observed, it was trivially easy to subvert the democratic institutions and the entire nation went along with the theory "India is Indira and Indira is India." Massive billboards portraying the Great Mother and Her Son were everywhere. The press agencies were taken over by the state. We were told by the state media and the cooperating private media such as the Hindu that the nation was making rapid progress under the 20-point scheme.
  
  There were rumours that short wave radios were being confiscated and that people were warned not to listen to the "lies of the BBC" or to spread them. People began to be suspicious of their neighbours and vied with each other to "report" their neighbours to the police to protect their own skin. A few well-known criminals were arrested and paraded on the streets to prove that the government was working more efficiently without the encumbrance of democracy. Remarkably, petty corruption vanished overnight and we could get ration cards or railway tickets without having to bribe anybody. A lot of people were convinced that this democracy thing was a bad idea after all and Queen Indira was good for them. So, when the elections came eventually, Tamils were surprised but were only too glad to formally elect her. Fortunately, the Hindi belt saved India by overwhelmingly rejecting Congress and defeating Mrs. Gandhi and her detested son.
  
  
• From: S.SUNDARARAMAN (@ 202.9.169.144) on: Mon Jul 3 12:27:14 EDT 2000
  
  The dark days of Emergency are behind us. Let us move forward to preserve the democracy from the autocrats a large number of them still remain in the Bueraucracy.
  
  
• From: Sugrutha (@ 1cust133.tnt5.new-brunswick3.nj.da.uu.net) on: Sun Jul 9 23:02:08 EDT 2000
  
  "..... even though I am tempted by the strides made by a totalitarian state like China, at the end of the day, I shy away from the Faustian bargain that it implies. "
  
  http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jul/07rajeev.htm
  
  
• From: anu (@ 164.164.86.66) on: Sat Jul 22 12:52:26 EDT 2000
  
  The first film by noted film maker Shaji N Karun was 'Piravi'('Birth' in English) which portrays effectively the trobled times during the emergency. It was an eye opener to many things.
  
  
• From: MRFAIZAN (@ host-216-252-186-210.interpacket.net) on: Tue Aug 15 06:59:10 EDT 2000
  
  JHFJHFRUJND
  MKFDKJVGNBJF
  
  
• From: chandrahasa (@ 202.41.106.101) on: Sat Dec 2 06:50:45 EST 2000
  
  Even though, the present generation can happily sit back and view emergency in hindsight,
  being there at that time and suffering the indignity of your fundamental rights being snatched is a sight no one would love to view.
  It is a grim reminder of the dark days in our democracy.
  
  
• From: Tamil (@ cache-1.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net) on: Sun Dec 3 16:14:04 EST 2000
  
  The treachery of The Hindu newspaper continues unabated even to this day. I believe in freedom of expression, but, in the case of Goebbelsian "The Hindu" newspaper, we all should make an effort to expose it.
  
  "STOP BUYING THIS ACCURSED NEWSPAPER."
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Unni (@ host08.rxc.ewr.qwest.net) on: Tue Feb 20 21:32:06
  
  Hi:
  While we all view the evils and some rare goods of those times, are we thinking where are we now?
  Has India changed? Corruption for any nominal person to do the job he is supposed to do ( forget which he has to do in addition). Is there a freedom of press so far in India. Why indian farmers are still dwelling in poverty while the sorporates who utilize them excel in power and wealth? WHat are we doing by electing 525 people nationally and many more in our states.
  
  The only things that have flourished are :
  
  Corruption
  Improvement of corporate and Multimillion finances
  DEFORESTATION ( the prime culprit for earth quakes).
  Power in the hands of ignorant politicians and useless people.
  Many more .....
  
  While all these are haunting the country, what is the need to think about the age old problems.
  COncentrate on the need of the time and try to introduce ideas to improve on those factors.
  
  

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