After the editorial section in the Indian Express, President Droupadi Murmu announced the Emergency that Indira Gandhi had declared two days earlier. The publication was delayed by two days due to a sudden power cut on the evening of the 26th at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, home to many of the country’s largest newspapers. This event occurred in the national capital. Elsewhere, newspaper presses were raided and shut down, and bundles of newspapers were seized. Even the Prime Minister spoke about how he helped disseminate underground literature and send it to international publications.
So, what lessons have we learned about press freedom from the Emergency? Today, when Congress accuses the media of being biased, why don’t they speak about what happened in 1975? How can we ensure that the media remains free and independent, learning from the lessons of the 1975 Emergency?
The Editor of Thuglak- Swaminathan Gurumurthy speaks exclusively with NewsX.
How was your experience of Emergency 1975?
My experience was in two parts. First, as an RSS Karyakarta, I participated in underground movements. During that time, I came across the Indian Express and Mr. Ramnath Goenka, and I assisted the Indian Express legally and in other ways to fight the Emergency. I was fortunate to be associated with the media’s fight against the Emergency. My responsibility included disseminating print and underground literature. At that time, Tamil Nadu was under DMK rule, and Gujarat was under Janata rule, making them ideal locations for underground activity.
We printed Hindi literature and other languages apart from Tamil, facilitated by a chain of karyakartas. This was necessary because newspapers were not reporting the true news. Additionally, I was responsible for procuring rations for about 100-150 karyakartas who were in jail, ensuring their families received essential supplies and expenses.
Regarding expenses, I remember sitting with Ramnath Goenka without electricity. We had to file a petition by lantern light, and the court granted us a stay, restoring our electricity. The printing machinery was suddenly auctioned, and the Delhi Municipal Corporation came to remove the machine needed for the next day’s paper. We had to file another petition to prevent this and continue printing. There are many such stories, but the significant issue was the constitutional changes made during the Emergency, particularly the 42nd Amendment.
Three critical changes were introduced:
1. Fundamental rights could be taken away by a simple law.
2. Any political party could be banned by an executive order, and any part of the constitution could be amended without being questioned by the court.
3. People could not approach the Supreme Court for violations of fundamental rights.
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These changes destroyed the federal structure. The amendments were signed by the President on December 17, 1976. With the assurance of a single-party government under her family’s control, Indira Gandhi went for elections, confident of her victory.
Had Mrs. Gandhi been elected, the constitution Rahul Gandhi would wave in Parliament would be one that destroys the original constitution. Fortunately, Mrs. Gandhi was defeated, the Janata Party won, and they repealed the damaging amendments. Thus, it wasn’t just a 21-month horror but the constitutional changes during that period that the people of India ultimately stopped.
Also Read: How Sanjay Gandhi Led ‘Nasbandi’ Campaign Amid Emergency Era? Dark Days Of Democracy
After the Prime Minister spoke about the Emergency, opposition MPs began showing copies of the constitution, pointing out, “It is you who are violating the constitution.” What is the irony of this constitutional conflict that still exists?
You know why? Two generations have grown up illiterate about what happened during the Emergency. When Mrs. Gandhi came to power in 1980, one thing she did was secretly remove all the Shah Commission reports and related documents.
There was a DMK MP (X) who valiantly fought against the Emergency in Parliament as he was not arrested. He had one copy of the Shah Commission report. He called me and said he had applied under the Right to Information Act (RTI), but they claimed no copies were available.
Since he had one copy, we decided to bring out a new edition of the Shah Commission report, which was lost and regained. In 2010, at a function where Advani, who was in jail for the entire 18-month period, and Chinnaswamy, who valiantly fought the Emergency, released this book. Between 1980 and 2010, there was no widespread awareness that the Emergency had occurred. Only one document survived because of the efforts taken by Chinnaswamy. Without this, how will the people of India know? How will the current set of politicians know what happened then? To let you know, Rahul Gandhi was a 5-year-old child at that time, so he is also part of the uninformed group.
Do you believe that the Congress would rather not have the nation know about this? This is why they objected to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla moving a motion in the new parliament to condemn the Emergency. The Congress is very upset.
The Congress are quick to call the media biased in today’s India (2024), but they conveniently forget what happened with the media and the press in 1975.
During the Emergency, the media was biased in favor of the Congress, except for the Indian Express. The Congress did not just want a biased media; they wanted a committed press and a committed judiciary, which was spoken about openly. After the Congress split in 1969, it lost its public character and became the private property of a family. The whole agenda shifted to personal power.
What Are The Lessons We Must Learn From Emergency?
I request the present government to establish a museum dedicated to the Emergency. What led to the Emergency? What happened during the Emergency? And what would have happened if the Janata Party had not come to power? These questions must be addressed and brought to the public’s attention.
The media, which kept two generations illiterate about this period, must begin to host debates on the subject. Very few people are still alive to share their personal experiences from the time of the Emergency.
What’s your take on the Sengol controversy? We have an MP from the Samajwadi Party who has written to the Lok Sabha Speaker, wanting the Sengol to be removed from the Lok Sabha.
If that so, then we should remove “Satyamev Jayate” from the Vedas because that connects us to an idea that is not a constitutional idea. If what connects you to the pre-constitution era is unacceptable to the Constitution of India, then you must remove “Yato Dharmastato Jayah” from the Supreme Court.
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