May 8, Forty Years Ago: Ruckus over MISA

The Opposition prevented the introduction of the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) bill in Parliament.

The Opposition prevented the introduction of the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) bill in Parliament. MPs said it was “obnoxious, draconian and monstrous” and tore up copies of the bill in the House. It proposed to amend the MISA passed by Parliament in 1971. Opposition MPs objected to provisions like a period of detention without reference to an advisory board up to two years and called it a fraud on democracy.

Bahuguna reprieve
A call on the continuation of H.N. Bahuguna as UP chief minister was likely to be taken by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after the Gujarat elections, Congress sources were quoted in a report. Bahuguna was facing dissidents and set to meet the PM to explain his version of events. In the light of the new development, he had postponed the trip, the report said. Meanwhile, the dissidents got a sympathetic hearing from the PM, it said, quoting MPs present at the meeting.

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Kerala speaker quits
Kerala assembly speaker and Indian Union Muslim League leader Moideen Kutty Haji resigned from his post and claimed the Achutha Menon government had lost its majority. Minutes after the dramatic announcement, three MLAs from the Kerala Congress announced their support to the government. This gave the government absolute majority in the assembly. Haji was close to a breakaway faction of the IUML that had left the CPI-led government.

Indians in Vietnam
About 300 Indian nationals, permanent residents in Vietnam then in Singapore, were in a dilemma over whether to return to Saigon or go to India. According to the report, the Indians, mostly Tamils, were in Singapore for business or on their way back from India when Saigon surrendered.