When bulldozers were the sign of Emergency
by Prem Prakash
The period of exile was a great respite for me from the game of hide
and seek which one had to play in Delhi, but the journalist in me wanted
me to be back.
On returning to Delhi, I realized that the real reason why Harry
D’Penha wanted me to be away was that many black leg journalists were
complaining against me even though all my stories were cleared by the
censor.
I found that many self-seekers were masquerading as journalists. Many
became the proverbial cat’s paws to pounce upon their unsuspecting
colleagues. Tragically, when the Emergency was overthrown by the people
of India in the historic mandate of 1977, many of these turncoats became
the bosom friends of the new leaders!
Delhi was now totally in the grip of some very strange people
reporting to Sanjay Gandhi. The city had been witnessing a so-called
“beautification” drive. Sadly, little thought was given to the poor who
were dislodged from their homes. Similar to the tanks of Tienan Men
square, the bulldozer in Delhi became the symbol of Emergency.
A major thrust of the Emergency was family planning, which was
overseen by Sanjay Gandhi. Targets were given to the doctors and
teachers amid the threat of unpleasant consequences. One heard of cases
where large numbers of young men were forced to undergo vasectomy, along
with old men.
Dark days
One day at the TVNF, which was controlled by me, stories were
received from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh that showed mass
hysterectomy operations being carried out on women.
I could not believe my eyes in the preview room of TVNF; women were
being herded like cattle and brought to these hysterectomy centres or
‘camps’ as they were known. The ladies were sprawled on the beds in
rows. Doctors, male and female, moved from bed to bed exposing the
private parts of these unsuspecting, poor women, from the rural areas
and city slums.
The doctors and their assistants did not display any remorse.
The memory of this sight still haunts me. There were reports of many
women catching serious infections leading to death. In any civilized
country, all those doctors and their cohorts would have been tried under
crimes against humanity. They still live amongst us.
Although the people resisted this forcible sterilization at many
places, such resistance was met with police action, which led to
violence. On October 18, 1976, the police in Muzzafarnagar killed scores
of people, who were protesting against this barbarity.
The police never gave a correct figure of how many were killed as
emergency protected them.
The much touted campaign against corruption, another favourite
objective of the Emergency, failed. Corruption at all levels became the
rule of the day and there was no way anyone could report against
anything.
The Government machinery was busy propagating the great successes of
the new order.
India’s largest news agency had been subverted, and others suppressed
by the censors. As for the official media, they were told not to forget
that these were ‘owned’ by the Government. There was no such thing as
credibility; they were told to carry out the Government’s orders.
I will never forget how shaken was my dear friend late Mohammed Iqbal
Malik, Dy. Director General of Doordarshan. He had chosen to stay on in
India at the time of partition even though he came from Lahore as he did
not accept Jinnah’s two nation theory.
He believed in India’s democracy and her leaders like Jawaharlal
Nehru.
His world fell apart and we both would commiserate on what was going
on and pray that it would end soon.
There was darkness all around. Where ever I travelled around India, I
only heard stories of excesses.
In Punjab, the agitation against the Emergency led by the Akali Party
and the Jana Sangh was gaining in strength with each passing day. Jails
were full, yet the demonstrations and arrests were not ending.
Stories of excesses
The rulers in New Delhi were becoming increasingly frustrated at
their failure to contain Punjab agitation. Narendra Modi, the present
Prime Minister, then a young BJP worker and RSS campaigner, having
escaped arrest in Gujarat was among those leading the agitation against
the emergency in Punjab together with the Akalis. In Punjab, he was
disguised as a Sikh. The after effects of the agitation still linger.
Then came November 1976 and the Parliament of India - opposition
members were in jail - gave itself an extension of life and continuation
of emergency. This was a rubber stamp Parliament. Earlier, the
Parliament even amended India’s Constitution making the country a
“socialist, secular, republic.”
It seemed that the Emergency was here to stay. But the world was not
prepared to accept this new Indian dictatorship, barring the Communist
and the non-aligned bloc. There were demonstrations in western capitals
where the Indian diaspora were in strength.
Used to travelling abroad and mixing with the world leaders, Indira
Gandhi and the rest of the Indian leadership found themselves isolated.
She did travel to Sri Lanka in August 1976 to attend the summit of the
non- aligned nations. She had to avoid the world press while her
officials led by Mohammed Yunus Khan made brave efforts to lobby with
the foreign correspondents.
Having given the Parliament an extended life, but feeling isolated,
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suddenly decided in January 1977 to hold
general elections. The Emergency came to an end on March 21, 1977.
According to rumours, the government had been assured by its
intelligence agencies that the Congress would return to power with
majority. The rest is history.
The Congress Party was defeated in the elections in March 1977.
Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay lost their seats.
The Congress Party has still not apologized to the nation for the
excesses that its Government committed during that dark era. It
continues to harbour anger against those who fought against the
Emergency. In particular, the target was Punjab where Akalis and Jan
Sangh resisted the Emergency valiantly.
It was this anger against Punjab and its leadership which had set the
ball rolling after the Congress came back into power in 1980 and led to
the events in Amritsar in 1984. That is yet another episode that India
needs to remember and atone for.
Weak points
The Indian democracy has yet to go a long way to consolidate itself
and its institutions. Jawaharlal Nehru successfully rid India of feudal
lords soon after independence. Today, the Congress Party is run by the
new dynastic feudal families that have emerged since then.
India has yet to achieve economic freedom and growth which alone can
assure equality and jobs for its people. Will the country be allowed to
achieve that goal?
One still feels that the Indian democracy has a long way to go to
consolidate itself and its institutions. |