Opinion May 20, Forty Years Ago: MISA mischief
Opposition parties had blocked the bill, which allowed the government to detain a person without trial for two years, in Parliament earlier that month.
Union Home Minister Brahmananda Reddy said that the Centre would reintroduce the bill to amend the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in the following Parliament session. Opposition parties had blocked the bill, which allowed the government to detain a person without trial for two years, in Parliament earlier that month.
Reddy claimed the amendments were necessary to fight the insurgency in the Northeast.
Rail mishap
Fifty-nine persons were killed when the Bombay-Madras Janata Express rammed a truck carrying a wedding party at an unmanned crossing near Pune. Eyewitnesses said the truck driver could not veer off the track while the approaching train repeatedly whistled.
US apology to Thais
The US formally apologised to Bangkok for launching an attack on Cambodia from the base in Thailand. Marines were dispatched from the base to rescue a US merchant ship from the Khmer Rouge.
Indo-Pak talks fail
Foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan in Delhi failed to produce an aviation accord. The talks collapsed after Pakistan refused to withdraw a case it had filed against India in the International Civil Aviation Organisation against the suspension of overflights in the wake of the skyjacking of an Indian aircraft in 1971. Both sides agreed to meet again, in Islamabad.
Indira meet disrupted
In an indication of things to come, people disrupted a rally addressed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Gujarat.
Stones and mud were hurled at the stage. The PM lashed out at the Janata Front and said it lacked policy, programme and direction, except “Indira hatao, Congress hatao”. The Janata, she said, was an anarchist crowd.
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