– Suresh Hindustani
An example of how the power of authority is misused is the dictatorial Emergency imposed on the country in 1975 by the Congress government. In which the right to freedom of expression was abolished. In a way, it can also be considered as an audacious attempt to snatch the independence of the country. Because raising voice against the government was completely banned during the emergency imposed on the country by the Indira regime. Even the government had jailed those social workers and those organizations dedicated to the national idea, who were raising their voice against the shortcomings of the government in a democratic way, along with those doing the politics of the opposition. If this step of the government is called completely undemocratic, then there will be no exaggeration. Indira Gandhi’s government tried to suppress every voice raised against her government, which was also democratically correct. By the way, it has been the character of the Congress rule that the voice raised against them should be silenced in any way. Even today the Congress is seen working in the same manner. Democratic principles have been sacrificed in the Congress.
It can only be considered as the nature of the Congress that it did not allow the voice which strengthens the country to become vocal. On the contrary, the voice raised against the country was supported by calling it freedom of expression without thinking. Simply put, it can be said that the Congress does not like anything said against it. That’s why when it comes to investigation in National Herald, Congress leaders act in unison as if they are right and everyone else is wrong. The Congress party has worked to directly and indirectly support anti-national forces in the name of freedom of expression more than once, but the Congress, which has been advocating freedom of expression time and again, has done so on 25 and 26 June 1975. Freedom of expression was completely strangled after the imposition of emergency at night.
Congress leaders should study the dark chapter of Emergency to know the fact that how freedom of expression is attacked. In the name of Emergency, the Congress wreaked havoc on the patriots by torturing them worse than the British. The mere remembrance of which makes the heart spin. Just listening to the experiences of the people who had interviewed this black night, it seems that how much they must have suffered the emergency.
If we look at the reasons behind the imposition of Emergency, the same facts emerge that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appeared in the role of a completely dictatorial ruler. He tried to establish his supremacy by defying the order of the Allahabad High Court, which was a kind of abuse of power. What was that decision? The root of this was the Lok Sabha elections held in 1971, in which he defeated his main rival Raj Narayan, but four years after the election result, Raj Narayan challenged the election result in the Allahabad High Court.
On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court annulled Indira Gandhi’s election and banned her from contesting elections for six years and defeated her and Mrs. Gandhi’s arch-rival Rajnarayan Singh was declared victorious in the election. Was. Rajnarayan Singh’s contention was that Indira Gandhi misused the government machinery in the election, spent more money than was allowed and used unfair means to influence voters. The court upheld these allegations. Despite this, Mrs. Gandhi refused to resign from the post of Prime Minister and declared emergency in the country. With the decision of the Allahabad High Court, the opposition Janata Morcha got a massive victory against Chimanbhai Patel in Gujarat. Indira Gandhi was shocked by this double injury. Indira Gandhi refused to accept this decision of the court and announced to appeal in the Supreme Court and on 26th June emergency was declared. This step of Indira Gandhi was bound to disrespect the order of the court.
In the name of emergency, only those people who were against the government were forcibly imprisoned. Organized a tremendous movement against Indira’s rule across the country. During the Emergency, the administration tortured everyone who took part in the movement under the leadership of Loknayak Jayaprakash, who were raising their voice against the government in a democratic way. Opposition politicians created such an atmosphere in the country against the central government that Indira Gandhi saw her throne shaking. George Fernandez was tortured by being tied with iron chains. All the big leaders of the country were put behind bars. In a way, jails became political schools. The people who saw this scene said that such a scene was not seen even during the British rule. It is meant to say that Indira Gandhi completely hijacked the democracy of the country. During this all the fundamental rights of the people were suspended. Anti-government speeches and demonstrations of any kind were completely banned.
During the Emergency, the ruling Congress made an unbridled attempt to suppress the voice of the common man. Its basis was the provision which gave unlimited powers to the government under Section-352. Under MISA and DIR, more than one lakh people were jailed in the country. Jai Prakash Narayan, the hero of the movement against Emergency, had kidney failure during his imprisonment. Karnataka’s famous actress Dr. Snehalatha Reddy came out of jail sick, later she died. The horrifying stories of jail-torture are full of those dark times. That’s why today Congress sometimes talks about saving democracy as if only Congress understands the meaning of democracy and no one else knows. The truth is that today there is no democracy within the Congress itself, there is only family system. That’s why expecting democracy from Congress would be called dishonest.
(The author is a freelance commentator.)
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