Recalling the Emergency that was imposed in India between 1975 and 1977 under the then-prime minister Indira Gandhi's rule, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party. Jaishankar used the 1975 political satire Kissa Kursi Ka to highlight the underlying motivations behind the contentious era of Indian history while speaking at the first session of a mock parliament organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).
During the Emergency, the Amrit Nahata-directed movie, which starred Raj Babbar and Shabana Azmi, was outlawed due to its critical depiction of the government, specifically focussing on Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi. "These three words perfectly capture the rationale behind the Emergency's imposition, and there's a movie called Kissa Kursi Ka," Jaishankar said. Referring specifically to the Congress's leadership at the time, he said, "When a family is considered above the nation, things like the Emergency happen."
Jaishankar, a 20-year-old Jawaharlal Nehru University student at the time of the Emergency, thought back on the climate of fear and repression that pervaded those 21 months. "This entire exercise, in a sense, was to break the morale of the country and society," he said, adding that the crackdown had an impact on both politicians and regular people who were not directly involved in politics.
“Many people, who were not even in politics, were impacted. Those who were in politics were well aware that doing politics meant an inevitable arrest, and those who were arrested were unaware if and when they would be released,” the 70-year-old minister noted, recalling the sweeping clampdown on dissent, arrests without trial, and suspension of civil liberties.
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He also discussed how the political and economic situation had gotten worse in the years preceding the Emergency. Within a few years of winning the 1971 elections, the government's popularity had sharply declined. He claimed that the tide was not in their favour, that corruption had grown, and that inflation was extremely high.
Speaking about public unrest, Jaishankar pointed out that there were widespread demonstrations taking place in Gujarat and Bihar and that people were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the actions of the political heir at the time. "People were upset. He referred to Sanjay Gandhi when he said, "Agitations were going on... people were raising questions on the business dealings of the then 'yuvraj.'" He also recalled how Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's authority was rocked by the Allahabad High Court's verdict, which found her guilty of electoral malpractice and misusing government machinery.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, which remains a contentious issue in Indian politics, signifying the perils of authoritarianism and the necessity of preserving democratic institutions.
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