It’s June 26. It was on this day 32 years ago that Indira Gandhi‘s government clamped the Emergency on the country. The excesses are well known: the suspension of democratic rights, media censorship, the forced sterilisations, etcetera. There can be little question it was/is the darkest period of the Indian Republic—when, in L.K. Advani‘s famous words, the media crawled when it was only asked to bend; when the high and mighty gladly played along with Sanjay Gandhi‘s goons.
But here’s a contrarian question to address: Is Indian democracy better off today because of the Emergency? Are we now more aware of our rights, and therefore more alert to any effort to circumscribe them? Are the judiciary and media more watchful because of the 1975 experience? Are our political parties and politicians more wary of exhibiting an authoritarian streak because of the fear of a backlash? Simply put, would we be as strong a democracy as we are today without having gone through those 22 months?
Related link: Where were you?
26 June 2007 at 6:20 pm
Under emergency at least family planning would have been implemented
26 June 2007 at 7:24 pm
Was Tsunami good for us?
Was debacle in 2007 world cup good for us?
Was Godhra incident/Babri Masjid demolition good for us?
We learned several things from the above mentioned disasters.
Does that make them desirable??
22 months of sheer despotic rule – a good thing to remind us of our rights & help us make a better democracy??
One does not need to get burnt to know about fire.
26 June 2007 at 8:24 pm
Suraj,
Liked your intensity mate…
Cheers !!!
26 June 2007 at 8:46 pm
It helped us to know that others can also rule the country that has been ruined by some!
27 June 2007 at 3:21 am
I think the itself is irrelevant. This is a real piece of convoluted logic. I wonder what the author was thinking.
As Suraj rightly pointed out, can all man made disasters, wars or genocides be justified because they offer some lessons.
And the claim about us being a stronger democracy is arguable.
Are we free of dynastic politics? Are our public servants any less corrupt today? Is our public or media better aware of its rights and duties? Has anyone expressed a sense of remorse for the happenings then? The list of such questions could go on.. So there is little point duscussing this.
27 June 2007 at 3:44 am
Suraj and Faldo,
Nicely observed! I have nothing to add.
27 June 2007 at 10:20 am
My father who worked in a Bank tells that it was good. All staff came on time. All records were updated day to day. Service improved leaps. No strikes. No delays.
No lobbying for promotions.
He felt happy that most who were not working were made to work for their salary.
The stricter side of emergency in govt. offices was good it seems.
27 June 2007 at 11:24 am
[...] Related Link: CHURUMURI POLL: Was Emergency good for us? [...]
27 June 2007 at 5:35 pm
@sycopant – Why should we need an emergency to achieve this? It would not have been sustainable in my opinion. When the government declares an emergency these are things it does to show that the emergency is for the benefit of the people.
@vinay – women’s education is the best route to family planning. Forced family planning just pisses off people.
Is our democracy really that great. Just having elections once in 5 years is not democracy, even if the elections are free and fair. Elections are just the first step.
The day to day accountability of the legislature and the executive to the common man is absent. We are talking of sending people to the moon when we still have not eliminated illiteracy and hunger. Where are the priorities? Of course science and technology have their due place. But I think Mahatma Gandhi’s test still remains valid i.e. what does this do for the poorest of the poor. Is our government becoming of the elite, by the elite and for the elite?
27 June 2007 at 6:26 pm
@srivatsa : from how many years have been blowing this bugle …pls read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India in case interested and look at the graph of the population growth
28 June 2007 at 12:44 am
A clerk from Deputy Commissioner’s office, who knew nothing about journalism, sat in the Press Room and was reviewing all news items, reports and editorials, cutting and rejecting what he did not like. That was a part of Emergency – Censorship!
30 December 2010 at 7:29 pm
it was a learning experience at any cost.