AMONG the many delicious ironies that permeate our public life was the recent decision of the National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to officially commemorate the Indian Emergency of 1975-77 as "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas" (Constitution Murder Day). The irony is particularly rich since the Emergency gave the Hindu Right-then represented by the Jana Sangh-and its storm troopers, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a chance to wash off the stubborn stains of the assassination of M K Gandhi. By serving jail time, the Jana Sangh also made up for the significant absence of the Hindu Right in India's freedom struggle. By being banned, once more since 1948, the RSS was able to rehabilitate itself as an oppositional force to the Congress. Many who were jailed for just a month or more were able to claim, thereafter, fat 'Emergency pensions' in some BJP-ruled states of the Indian Union. No such fortune was bestowed on the members of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, which was also banned.
The irony is deepened further by the fact that the 21-month suspension of democratic rights and freedoms, a first in Independent India, was a mere baby step compared to what would become, as Arvind Narrain's detailed analysis has it, 'India's Undeclared Emergency' since 2014. Was the Emergency, then, just a forerunner of what an authoritarian state could achieve? Or does the dramatic backsliding of democracy of the past decade cast a rosier light on the earlier short stint?
Esta historia es de la edición October 01, 2024 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición October 01, 2024 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Political Dangal
After fighting hard for Olympic glory and protesting against sexual violence, Vinesh Phogat has now stepped into a new role: the politician
Contending Nationalisms
The Manipur crisis is a complex, interconnected mess that spills across several borders, national and international
God, Communism and a Women's Gym
Unlike other constituencies in the region, Kulgam stands out as a battleground for ideological conflict. The election results, expected on October 8, could lead to either celebration in the CPI M) camp or the Jamaat-e-Islami camp
Emergency, Stalled
Kangana Ranaut starrer, Emergency, the eagerly awaited biopic of 2024, is yet to find a release date. Bollywood has churned out a slew of biopics in the last decade, most of them formulaic
The Darkest Hour
Qurban Ali is a senior journalist and son of former freedom fighter and Socialist leader Captain Abbas Ali, who was jailed for 19 months by the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency.
Chronicle of Authoritarianism Foretold?
Eternal vigilance on the part of citizens is imperative Eternal vigilance on the part of citizens is imperative
Blank Editorials
Despite being under scrutiny during the Emergency, small journals like Himmat Weekly got around censorship by taking calculated risks
To Write or Not to Write
For many journalists, reporting in the volatile decade of the 1970s was both exciting and challenging
Indira, the Nationalist
Indira Gandhi is dead and she cannot defend herself. But that doesn't mean others can't
Blue Star and the Golden Temple
Bhindranwale was able to get away with wrongdoings because in the eyes of the Congress leadership in Delhi, Punjab had a Sikh problem since Independence’