Emergency Alert

Pages: 338

Emergency Retold is a new edition of a book on the Emergency by the distinguished journalist Kuldip Nayar,released on June 26,the 38th anniversary of the Emergency. 

Kuldip Nayar was arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) in 1975,held in Tihar jail and only released on a writ of habeas corpus. He then toured the country and kept a record of the darkest chapter of India’s democratic life. The book is a valuable account of the times by a prisoner of conscience.

How does one explain the Emergency to a new generation,Nayar asks in his new preface? More than one lakh opposition leaders and critics were detained without trial. The Cabinet gave post-facto sanction. Power was vested in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son,Sanjay Gandhi. Nayar also feels that institutions never regained their original vigour and sanctity. In other words,the idea of India was derailed.

In the book,Nayar recounts how the Emergency came about and freely takes names in his courageous signature style. After the ruling of the Allahabad High Court setting aside her election on grounds of corruption,Indira Gandhi responded to the advice of West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray and her younger son,Sanjay. Secrecy was paramount. Nayar details that “Ray and Mrs Gandhi drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan… The president understood the implications quickly … He did not think of demurring”.

On returning,Gandhi decided on a Cabinet meeting at

6 am. She knew that the arrest of Jayaprakash Narayan,Morarji Desai and several hundreds more was going according to plan. On the morning of June 26,censorship was imposed on all press writings related to the internal situation. Nayar records that after the initial arrests,there was almost no resistance and if there was any,it was “tackled”. A few leaders like George Fernandes and Subramanian Swamy went underground.

Indira Gandhi thought that Parliament would certainly endorse the Emergency,so she convened it on July 21,1975. The book quotes some of the leaders who,however,spoke up against the Emergency: AK Gopalan (CPI-M),Mohan Dharia (Congress-I,expelled),Era Sezhiyan,PG Mavlankar,and SA Shamim. The CPI gave full support to Gandhi,with Indrajit Gupta stating that the proclamation of Emergency was justified and everybody supported it. However,a few newspapers like The Indian Express and The Statesman tried to stand up against censorship. Express proprietor Ramnath Goenka was threatened that his son and daughter-in-law would be interned under MISA.

In the Supreme Court,Shanti Bhushan argued that the right to personal liberty was not a gift of the Constitution but a fundamental concept of democracy,which could not be suspended. However,the Supreme Court ruled that in view of the presidential order of June 27,1975,no person had any locus standi to challenge the legality of a detention order. Only Justice HR Khanna dissented,but his was a minority voice.

The book ends with the announcement of elections. The rest is history,but the real heroes were the people of India. Emergency Retold should adorn the bookshelves of all people who love freedom and wish to know of a time when our civil liberties were summarily taken away. This is an archival work of contemporary history,but one wishes the publishers had not released a book of such importance with so many typographical errors.

Sagari Chhabra is an author,filmmaker and social activist