On the midnight of 15 August 1947, the country's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru announced the independence of the country. The country did not sleep that night. The sun peeped early. Then the next morning came with new light of hope and joy. After a gap of 28 years, on the midnight of 25 June 1975, a decision was taken to kidnap the soul of that freedom 'democracy'. The irony is that this decision was of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Pandit Nehru, who laid the foundation of democracy.
Police knocking on houses late at night; morning terror guard
This night the police knocked on the doors of all the houses across the country. The next morning there was a guard of terror-repression. Unfortunately this series was to continue for a long time. Indiraji's friend, Bengal Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray came forward with the plan of internal emergency under Article 352 of the constitution. The formality of the approval of the cabinet on the plan was done the next morning. President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had signed it in the night itself without Nanukur. That night wreaked havoc on the opponents.
Countrywide arrests took place. Every voice that raised or could raise against the government, its next destination was jail. Newspapers' electricity was cut. Censorship was implemented. Civil rights were taken away. Lakhs of opposition were in jail. The rest of the country was an open prison. Dictatorship had eclipsed the sun of democracy. The next twenty-one months were full of painful stories of the arbitrariness of the ruling party and the atrocities of the police-administration.
Chandrashekhar reached the police station behind JP
That evening of 25th June, Chandrashekhar watched the movie "Sholay" with BP Koirala and Selja Acharya at Regal Cinema. On his return, Dayanand Sahai told him about the meeting of opposition parties held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Said today JP did wonders in his speech. Chandrashekhar said, "This is the last speech." Later Chandrashekhar wrote, "Then at 3:30 in the last hour of that night, I got a call. Police has reached Gandhi Pratishthan to arrest JP. We reached there by taxi. JP said that the police have come. When they sat in the car, we followed by taxi. The police took JP inside the Parliament station.
The police officer was unable to muster the courage to take JP to jail
Chandrasekhar wanted to stay with JP but a sub-inspector stopped him. After fifteen minutes a DSP came. He said sir how are you standing outside? Chandrashekhar spoke about stopping the inspector. He took them inside. SP (Intelligence) came after sitting for a while. Said something in the ear of the local SP. Then took me outside to talk. Said the vehicle has arrived for JP. I don't have the courage. You say You have to go to another place. I could not understand. When he talked about my departure again, he asked if there was a warrant against me too. he said yes. The police have gone to your house."
Then the number of arrested opposition increased
“I told JP that you go. Your car has arrived. I want to go to another place. He asked, are you also arrested. Coming out of the police station, JP said, “Vinaashkaale – opposite intellect.” Peelu Modi, Raj Narayan, Biju Patnaik, Ashok Mehta, Sikandar Bakht, Ram Dhan, KR Malkani had also reached the police station. Atalji-Advaniji had gone to Bangalore to attend a parliamentary committee meeting. Both of them were arrested there. Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur and Rajmata Scindia of Gwalior were also sent to jail.
JP appealed to the security-military forces not to obey government orders
The Allahabad High Court, in its judgment of June 12, had annulled Indira Gandhi's election from Rae Bareli but gave her 20 days to appeal. The 12 days in between were full of doubt and tension. But on June 24, Justice Krishna Iyer of the vacation bench of the Supreme Court gave him relief. Justice Iyer restricted his right to vote in the Lok Sabha but allowed him to continue in the post of Prime Minister.
The opposition was still aggressive. The Delhi meeting on 25th June was historic. Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan and other prominent opposition leaders appealed to the public to intensify the struggle. Said that the government has lost the right to remain in power from both legal and moral point of view. An appeal was made to the security and military forces not to obey the orders of the government.
Bypassing rules and regulations; autocratic rule
After interim relief from the Supreme Court, Indiraji geared up to eliminate her opponents. Rules and regulations were bypassed. There was the rule of bureaucracy-police. Forced sterilization of the very important program of family planning and the competition to fulfill the target became the reason for the strong resentment of the people. In the year 1973-74, where only 9.4 lakh vasectomy was done in the country, whereas during the Emergency in 1976-77, its number was 82.6 lakh.
As part of the beautification campaign, the bulldozers on the Turkman Gate and the widespread violence during this brought a lot of defamation to the government. The extra-constitutional rule of Sanjay Gandhi and his group brought all the stalwarts of the Congress to their knees. There was a competition to prove loyalty towards him and there was goodness in that too. For this, there was no refrain from saying anything and doing it.
The only way to escape from prison; Indira – Sanjay Ki Jai – Jai Kaar
Congress President Dev Kant Baruah was raising slogans of 'Indira is India'. Chorus of Indira teri subah ki jai, teri sham ki jai were being sung. Bansilal was saying for the sick JP in the jail, 'Let him die'. Home Minister Brahmananda Reddy was on the sidelines. Member of Sanjay Mandali, Minister of State for Home Om Mehta was speaking.
Indra Kumar Gujral was humiliated and removed from the post of Minister of Information and Broadcasting for proving to be a failure on Sanjay Gandhi's test. Vidya Charan Shukla, who took his place, crossed all limits to maintain and repair the press. There was an atmosphere of fear everywhere. The only way to avoid going to jail was to join the ruling party and flatter its leaders.
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