When the crowd walked out on Indira

There were a few moments of hushed silence as the crowd stopped its laughterto hear the Prime Minister. Then a chant started from one corner of thecrowd. It was immediately taken up by another section and within a minutehad spread throughout the cubicles all over the Boat Club lawns. The chantwas getting louder and louder.

She stopped her address. 8220;What are they saying,8221; she asked the Congressleaders on the dais. Nobody had the courage to give her the answer. Butthere was no need for an answer. Mrs Gandhi herself could now hear quiteclearly what the crowd was saying.

8220;We want DA. We want DA,8221; the government employees were shouting. 8220;No DA,no vote8221;, they were chanting. Mrs Gandhi8217;s voice was unintelligible in theshouting and chanting8230;.There was now no restraining the crowd. New slogans were added to the oneabout Dearness Allowance. 8220;Give us two sterilisation cases and we will giveyou our vote,8221; the crowd shouted. Some of them had got up now and werewaving their fists at the dais.

8220;Where is your son, where are you hiding him?8221; they asked the PrimeMinister.

8220;The cow is here but where is the calf?8221; jeered another group.Up on the dais there was pandemonium. Radha Raman and the others had shrankback in a corner. They avoided looking at the crowd or the Prime Minister.Shashi Bhushan was like a mad man. The rally was his responsibility as hewas the candidate for New Delhi8230;.The Prime Minister was numb with rage. She had never been so openly rejectedby the people of Delhi. But like the fighter she was. She went on with herspeech.

8220;I know that many of you are angry with what had happened during the last19 months. I know that there were some excesses done on you,8221; she said andfor the first time in the meeting there was applause from the crowd.8220;And these excesses were not only done by officials but also politicians,8221;the Prime Minister added with an emphasis that made the politicians on thestage shrink back further. She would never forgive them for her humiliationtoday.

8220;But still, you must take a balanced view of the Emergency. There have beenmany good things that have been achieved during the last 19 months and8230;8221;The Prime Minister stopped abruptly. The swarm of flies were no longersitting on the saucer. They had grown legs and were walking away. The crowdwas walking out on the Prime Minister8217;s speech.

Excerpted from For Reasons of State: Delhi Under Emergency8217;, by John Dayaland Ajoy Bose, Orient Paperbacks, 1977