Emergency.

Sept.9.2003.

Asian Age of 6.9.03 carried a letter from one Mr. Atul Mishra, to the BJP think tank, Balabir Punj’s article in the same paper dated 2.9.03. Of course, it was a short answer to the allegations and lies that are stapple to Hindutva journalism nowadays. The thnk tank in his column used them in relaton to Stalin, Soviet Union and all communists parties. The biggest lie in that was that communists were on the side of Razakars in the erstwhile Nizam state. He asserts the lie with no credible evidence to prove the charge. He never understood the meaning of nationalities and self-determination. Punj further goes on to list the RSS goons killed n fight with communists in WestBengal and some other places. But he has noting to say about reasons, history and nature of such fights. As far as my knowledge goes the fight between communists and RSS in Kerala was the result of devilish provocation in districts where the communists are strong. We may term it as suicide squads attacking each other. The RSS workers were not some innocent bystanders. The RSS inspired violence is the norm in all parts of the country against minorities and dalits and mainly targeted on innocents. Te most recent one is that oof mass killings of Muslims in Gujarat.

People who criticise the communists and other who supported self-determination to muslim majority areas in the pre-independence days are unaware or hide the truth that their spiritual Guru V.D.Savarkar was advocating the two nations theory for several decades. Israel the Jewish state in the Arab lands got support from all left and right that include Savarkar.     

Near about two and half decades after, the ruling party and its allies, angrily denounce the emergency declared by the then Government headed by Indira Gandhi. The period of emergency was less than 24 months and the most affected emergency measures were rightists under erstwhile leadership of Socialists, Jaya Prakash Narayan. While Mrs. Gandhi declared emergency, she withdrew it on her own and restored constitutional norms. She announced general elections and then accepted her defeat. But the new government stooped to conquer by arresting the former Prime Minister and instituted an inquiry commission known as Shah Commission. The anti emergency government did not last its full term and had to go making way for new elections. And in this elections Indira Gandhi returned with more convincing majority. That should have silenced the rightists on their accusations. They found no political redeeming features in their defeat at hands of the accused. Now today, the same anti-emergency and anti-congress forces are at the helm and they are ruling the country in  the same emergency style, without declaring emergency. Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) is there as a fit as any emergency measure. The government enacts arbitrary arrests and detention without charges. That much is admitted in the name stopping terrorism. The Tahelka episode and the subsequent hounding of the news portal personnel connected are worse that in the days of emergency. The post Godhra Gujarat riots, holocaust or genocide was nothing but terrorism legally sanctioned as in the times of Sanjay Gandhi and his goon brigades. Judicial verdict on the Best Bakery carnage in Bandra should open the eyes of all right thinking people.

One should not forget that the same person and government extinguished the emergency declared. Rules of law and constitution norms, restored back and general elections conducted. That was the biggest difference between Indira Gandhi and other dictators all around the world. Almost all those dictatorships outside India, They were sustained and supported though military means by the ruling class/parties of the US as part of the cold war strategies against the then Soviet Union and ostensibly communism. The BJP and other anti-congress, anti-secular cabals would not be alive today if Indira Gandhi and then the congress (I) continued with emergency for more years. With all the fathomless features the emergency imposed was a freak development caused by the circumstances when the nation is surrounded by military dictatorships in both neighbouring countries, Pakistan and Bangladesh while China bristled in anti-Indian strategies. Hostility from the Western world also was one factor. Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) and South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) engulfed a non-aligned India.

However, the ruling coalition NDA headed by BJP is resorting to POTA like measures when circumstances have changed. The new undeclared emergency in the name anti-terrorism is nothing but a prelude to another fundamentalist rule. People should be on guard. 

K.N.Krishnan