Kuldip
Nayar’s ‘EMERGENCY RETOLD’
A
review by Sagari Chhabra
'Emergency Retold' is a new edition of a book on the Emergency by
the distinguished journalist and human rights activist, Kuldip Nayar. The book
published by Konark Publications was released on 26th June, the 38th
anniversary of the Emergency, to an audience of journalists, authors and
democratic rights activists at India International Centre.
Kuldip Nayar was arrested under MISA (Maintenance Of Internal
Security Act) kept in Tihar jail, and only released on a writ of habeous
corpus filed by his family. He then toured the country and kept an account of
the darkest chapter of India's democratic life. The book is a valuable document
of the times and is an account by a prisoner of conscience of what actually
happened. Nayar asks in his new preface, how does one explain the emergency
imposed in 1975, to a new generation? It
does not know what it meant. He goes on to write, "More than one lakh
opposition leaders and critics were detained without trial. The cabinet gave
post-facto sanction. The power came to constitute in the then Prime Minister,
Indira Gandhi and her son, Sanjay Gandhi, an extra-constitutional authority’.He
also writes that the institutions never
got back their original vigour and sanctity. In other words the very idea of
India was derailed.
In
the book, Nayar recounts how the Emergency came about and freely takes names in
his characteristic, courageous, signature style. He recalls Justice Sinha of the Allahabad
High Court had ruled Indira Gandhi guilty on the count of two corrupt practices
during her election. After this she responded to the advice of Sidhartha
Shankar Ray, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and her younger son, Sanjay, who
did not hold any constitutional position nor any position within the party and
was infact involved with the setting up of the Maruti car factory. Nayar writes
“a vague plan for 'doing something' to silence the press and opponents of Mrs
Gandhi had not only acquired a firm shape but also achieved constitutional
sanction. 'Internal emergency' was the cloak a lawyer had found for an action
planned with dictatorial motives". Secrecy was paramount, no one had an
inkling as to what was being planned, as the opposition was busy preparing for
the 25 June rally to be addressed by Jayaprakash Narain, popularly known as JP.
Nayar details that “Sidhartha Shankar Ray and Mrs Gandhi drove to Rashtrapati
Bhavan four hours before the deadline.... The President understood the implications
quickly. He was also once a practising lawyer... He did not think of demurring.
He was indebted to Mrs Gandhi for elevating him to the highest position in the
country." After returning from Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mrs Gandhi decided on a
cabinet meeting at 6am, by now she knew that the arrests of JP, Morarji Desai
and several hundreds were going according to the plan. On the morning of 26
June, censorship was imposed on all press writings related to the internal
situation. All messages had to be sent to the government for scrutiny.
Nayar records that after the mass arrests, there was almost no resistance
and if there were any, they were 'tackled'. A few leaders like George
Fernandes, and Subramaniam Swami, Jana Sangh members, went underground. Vidya
Charan Shukla who took over from I.K Gujral as Minister of Information and
Broadcasting, reported that the censorship machinery was quickly getting into
gear. Indira Gandhi thought that the Parliament would certainly endorse the
Emergency, thus refurbishing her international image; so she convened it on 21
July 1975. She also asked that the question hour be given up. The book has
extracts of some of the leaders who spoke up against the Emergency: Ak
Gopalan (CPIM), Mohan Dharia (Congress-I expelled), Era Sezhiyan, P.G
Mavlankar, and S.A Shamim. The CPI (Communist Party of India) gave full support
to Mrs Gandhi, with Indrajit Gupta even stating that the proclamation of
Emergency was justified and everybody supported it.
In Tihar jail alone, which at that time could house only 1200
persons, the jail overflowed with more than 4000 people. However, a few
newspapers like the Indian Express tried to stand up against censorship. The
paper's proprietor, Ram Nath Goenka was threatened that his son and
daughter-in-law would be interned under MISA and his chain of papers auctioned,
if he did not acquiesce. The Statesman was punished for not publishing a
sufficient number of photographs of Mrs Gandhi on the front page and was asked
to submit all page proofs to the censors for approval. The pages would be
cleared late, delaying the printing of the paper. Sanjay Gandhi was behind the
demolition and razing of several slums including the demolition of the Turkman
Gate locality, which was met by resistance. Later, a forcible sterilisation
campaign - 'nasbandi' also went into over-drive, aided by 'a glamorous lady'
Rukhsana Sultana who considered Sanjay Gandhi, a ‘god’.
Emergency Retold’ also details the torture of Lawrence Fernandes
who was picked up from his house in Bangalore, to find the whereabouts of his
brother, George Fernandes. The book records his testimony. “They were ten
policemen and they started giving me the works. Four lathis broke, one after
the other as they directed blows to all parts of my body. I was writhing in pain
on the floor...” Snehalata Reddy an actress, was also arrested, and
later released, she died.
Shanti Bhushan argued
before the Supreme Court that the right to personal liberty, was not a gift of
the Constitution but a fundamental concept of democracy, which could not be
suspended even by the Emergency. However, the Supreme Court ruled that in view
of the president's order of 27 June 1975, no person had any locus standi to
move any writ petition to challenge the legality of a detention order and that
the order amending MISA, to remove the requirement that a detenu must be
informed the reason for his detention, was constitutionally valid. However,
Justice H.R Khanna in his minority ruling declared that no authority could
suspend the high courts power to issue writs of habeous corpus. Even in
times of emergency the state had no power to deprive a person of his life and
liberty. But this was a minority voice. The majority, Justices Ray, Beg,
Chandrachud and Bhagwati supported the order.
The book ends with the
announcement of elections, obviously Indira Gandhi assumed her party would win
and the historic defeat at the elections of 1977. The rest is history, but the
real heroes were the people of India!
Kuldip Nayar’s ' Emergency Retold' is a fearless account, which only
Nayar, himself a prisoner of conscience, could write. It is a must for all
libraries and should adorn the book -shelves of all people who love freedom and
wish to know of a time when our civil liberties were summarily taken away. The
book should become part of the curriculum of all universities in south asia,
but the publishers have done a disservice, by releasing a historic volume with
so many typographical errors and mistakes, which a careful editor or even a
proof-reader could easily have corrected. 