Since there has been a lot of talk about dictatorship and the change of constitution in certain quarters, I thought of sharing 3 lesser known aspects about Indira's emergency that most of us have glossed over. This should put to rest all the talk about dictatorship and constitutional change especially in the current context.
With the luxury of hindsight, I believe most of us have misunderstood what the intent of Indira's emergency really was. We seem to think she was merely bypassing a judge from the Allahabad High Court to hold on to power. In fact, that is not the half of it. Before I go forward, a quick plug for my next book which will detail these incidents. Don't forget.
Now as we know, the night of June 25th when the emergency came into effect was around 2 weeks after the Allahabad HC had barred her from holding office. A speech of Jayaprakash Narayan, where he stated that her position had become untenable and that public servants were not obliged to take her orders, was used as the pretext to declare emergency.
Interestingly, however, the blueprint for the emergency was ready in January. This was before the Allahabad HC ruled that her election was invalid, and obviously before JP had said anything "treasonous". A note dated January 1975, from her confidante and WB CM Siddharth Shankar Roy to her, clearly tells her that the Law Minister is drafting the emergency ordinance, and that she has to ensure her HM plays ball. He also tells her to instruct the CMs to prepare secret lists of opponents whom they want to jail when the ordinance comes into effect. For some reason, they pulled the plug on this operation in January.
But come June, we see that some CMs are quietly summoned to Delhi and asked to prepare their lists. Some even make pitstops on the way back home, and ask their counterparts in other states to follow suit. But here's the bombshell - these instructions to the CMs are passed on before JP makes his "treasonous" statement! So basically they were bringing an old plan out of cold storage, and everything else was merely an excuse.
Now that we have established this was a well-planned operation and not just a reaction of some kind, the next part will deal with what their intention really was. Believe me, that is the part which will shock you. Hopefully I'll share that tomorrow.
If you want to know where I found this information, it is in Coomi Kapoor's book about the emergency. Pages 5 & 6 to be precise.
With the luxury of hindsight, I believe most of us have misunderstood what the intent of Indira's emergency really was. We seem to think she was merely bypassing a judge from the Allahabad High Court to hold on to power. In fact, that is not the half of it. Before I go forward, a quick plug for my next book which will detail these incidents. Don't forget.
Now as we know, the night of June 25th when the emergency came into effect was around 2 weeks after the Allahabad HC had barred her from holding office. A speech of Jayaprakash Narayan, where he stated that her position had become untenable and that public servants were not obliged to take her orders, was used as the pretext to declare emergency.
Interestingly, however, the blueprint for the emergency was ready in January. This was before the Allahabad HC ruled that her election was invalid, and obviously before JP had said anything "treasonous". A note dated January 1975, from her confidante and WB CM Siddharth Shankar Roy to her, clearly tells her that the Law Minister is drafting the emergency ordinance, and that she has to ensure her HM plays ball. He also tells her to instruct the CMs to prepare secret lists of opponents whom they want to jail when the ordinance comes into effect. For some reason, they pulled the plug on this operation in January.
But come June, we see that some CMs are quietly summoned to Delhi and asked to prepare their lists. Some even make pitstops on the way back home, and ask their counterparts in other states to follow suit. But here's the bombshell - these instructions to the CMs are passed on before JP makes his "treasonous" statement! So basically they were bringing an old plan out of cold storage, and everything else was merely an excuse.
Now that we have established this was a well-planned operation and not just a reaction of some kind, the next part will deal with what their intention really was. Believe me, that is the part which will shock you. Hopefully I'll share that tomorrow.
If you want to know where I found this information, it is in Coomi Kapoor's book about the emergency. Pages 5 & 6 to be precise.
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