Emergency in India, When Congress Crushed Democracy and Contribution of RSS in Restoring it

Emergency Imposed – 26th June 1975 ( midnight of June 25th)  – The Day When Bharat’s democratic rights were crushed.

It is fashionable among India’s elitist “intellectual” circles to target anyone related to the Hindu renaissance movement as fascist or  Nazi. The only time that Independent India saw democratic rights completely being crushed was under the Congress rule. The only time post Independence, Bharat was subjected to Nazi like and fascist like treatment was under the Congress.  Isn’t it revealing that the elite intellectuals do not remind the country of emergency imposed in India under Smt.Indira Gandhi’s rule ? Why ?

It was the Lok Sangharsh Samiti under the leadership of Jai Prakash Narayan which ensured that Bharat breathed freely again. The Lok Sangharsh Samiti had thousands of volunteers from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, known as the RSS which spearheaded the Hindu renaissance movement since 1925.

Indira Gandhi, and the Congress Party’s misuse of Power and Malpractice :

On 12 June 1975, the Allahabad High Court  found Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election null and void and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. The court also banned her from contesting any election for an additional six years.

A book by a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office Sri Bishan Tandon gives details about the events of those crucial days. He writes in the PMO diary ” Her objective is clear: whatever happens, she must remain PM. The senior leaders will applaud her as she does whatever she wants. Our ideals, values and yardsticks can go to hell. Is democracy nearing its end in our country “. ( quoted in Sri LK Advani’s blog).

It is clear that in her quest for power at all costs, she imposed emergency on the mid night of June 25th and w.ef. from June 26th, 1975 . The order for emergency was signed by the President Faqruddin Ali Ahmed.

 

Indira Gandhi

Draconian Law MISA Imposed  -

On July 4th, ( 3rd July midnight), a ban was put on RSS activities. On 5th August 1975, Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was imposed and thousands of people who were thought to be a threat to the Congress were put in jail and tortured. Political leaders belonging to the Jan Sangh and socialist party were also arrested. More significantly, common people with social consciousness were arrested and put behind bars.

Many of the Congress leaders who were instrumental in crushing people’s rights are or have been Cabinet ministers in the last 10 years of UPA government.

The country Rises : 

 

Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan

The country rose as one voice under the banner of Lok Sangharsh Samiti lead by Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan. Thousands of RSS volunteers under the direction of Sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras plunged into the movement. Almost all of them who participated in the movement were people on whom depended their entire family….and yet their family members supported their fight for democracy.

Balasahebji Deoras

‘The Economist’, London, on 4-12-1976  described the movement as “the only non-left revolutionary force in the world”. It said that the movement was “dominated by tens of thousands of RSS cadres, though more and more young recruits are coming”. Talking about its objectives it said “its platform at the moment has only one plank: to bring democracy back to India”.

Satyagraha was organised across the country and thousands got arrested. After almost 2 years of relentless struggle, the country was successful in restoring democracy.

Indira had to lift emergency on  21st March 1977.

Let us bow our heads in tribute to the lakhs of Bharatiyas who braved the odds to restore democracy and the thousands who faced the brutality of MISA.

Many of the people who have seen the Emergency, indicate that the anarchist situation and misuse of government machinery today reminds them of the situation prevalent before the Emergency. Let us take a sankalp that we will not allow the institutions, values and ideals of Bharat to be compromised.

Arise Bharat !

Appendix :

Table : Number of Arrests and Detentions in Various States/ UTs during Emergency

Name of State/ UT	Detention under MISA	Arrests under DISIR
Andhra Pradesh	1135	451
Assam	533	2388
Bihar	2360	7747
Gujarat	1762	2643
Haryana	200	1079
Himachal Pradesh	34	654
Jammu & Kashmir	466	311
Karnataka	487	4015
Kerala	790	7134
Madhya Pradesh	5620	2521
Maharashtra	5473	9799
Manipur	231	228
Meghalaya	39	20
Nagaland	95	4
Orissa	408	762
Punjab	440	2463
Rajasthan	542	1352
Sikkim	4	-
Tamilnadu	1027	1644
Tripura	77	99
Uttar Pradesh	6956	24781
West Bengal	4992	2547
Andman & Nicobar Islands	41	88
Arunachal Pradesh	-	1
Chandigarh	27	74
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	-	3
Delhi	1012	2851
Goa, Daman & Diu	113	-
Lakshdweep Islands	-	-
Mizoram	70	136
Pondicherry	54	63
Total	34988 [MISA Detentions]	75818 [DISIR Arrests]

TOTAL BEHIND BARS : 1,10,806 [Source : Shah Commission's Report on Emergency]