When 9 High Courts stood their ground: Dhankar’s Emergency reminder and its lessons for today

“The night was dark, the cabinet was sidelined. The beleaguered Prime Minister, then facing an adverse High Court order, yielded to personal gain, ignoring the entire nation, and the President trampled constitutionalism, signed the declaration of Emergency. What followed for 21-22 months was a turbulent period for our democracy, never imagined. The darkest period of democracy we had the occasion to see,” Dhankar said.

Speaking of the political prisoners, he said that 1.4 lakh people were put behind bars. “They had no access to the justice system. They could not vindicate their Fundamental Rights. Nine High Courts, fortunately, stood their ground and they hailed, Emergency or no Emergency, Fundamental Rights cannot be put on hold, ruling firmly that every citizen of the country has a right which can be fructified by judicial intervention. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict of nine High Courts. It ruled, it decided two things – Emergency declaration thereof is a decision of the Executive, not open to judicial review. And, it is also a decision on the time for how long it will last, and that citizens do not have Fundamental Rights while there is Emergency. It was a major setback to the people at large,” he said.

He asked young students to reflect on this because they cannot afford not to learn about the “darkest period”. “What happened to the Press? Who were the people put behind bars? They became Prime Ministers, Presidents of this country. You are the most vital stakeholders in governance, in democracy. You therefore cannot forget or cannot afford not to learn about that darkest period. Very thoughtfully, the government of the day decided that this day would be celebrated as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas’. The celebration will be that it will never happen again,” he said.

The Vice President also mentioned an article published by the New York Times on April 30, 1976, on H R Khanna, who expressed his dissent in the SC judgment that upheld the suspension of right to life and personal liberty during the time. The Times article read, “Mr. Justice Khanna had a tart and haunting reminder: ‘In a purely formal sense, even the organised mass murders of the Nazi regime qualify as law’.”

He said that academic institutions are beyond just learning centres for degrees and credentials. “You know the time you spend amongst your colleagues on the campus defines your mindset. These places are meant to catalyse the change needed, the change you want, the nation you want,” he said.