Reflections on 40 years after Emergency

[Baikul]

I lived through it but was too young to remember events from from the Emergency. What fascinates me is how our political leadership responded to it, the ones who buckled under, the ones who - allegedly- ran away- and the ones who supported it. I think is was a fine study of the best and worst of Indian leadership, the cringing sycophants, the rebels, the cowards and the heroes.

I would love to read in one place an analysis of how this leadership class behaved, focusing on one leader at a time.

The reason I'm emphasizing this that all of us, especially the following generations, can discover for themselves how so many of our political elites, at the highest levels, are physical and moral cowards of the highest order who will sell the national interest to save themselves the slightest discomfort. And that many, if not the majority, who set themselves so high, are petty despots with the backbone of a jellyfish and the integrity of a common pickpocket.

I know some people will say, hey we already know this. But there's knowing, and then there's really knowing that this chief minister or that cabinet minister, who makes these grandiose statements could very well be a petty minded, vicious upstart who would betray anything if it gave them one more day in their job. People need to internalize this and know. These are our political leaders but they're no better than us, and in most cases they're a hell of a lot worse.

[Tuvaluan]

A slightly more (very slight) honest piece from Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who also fails to mention the various constitutional amendments made by IG during the emergency that are yet to be rolled back...this joker pretends that Emergency was imposed by the INC under Indira Gandhi because the common man wanted it. so the emergency was quite "democratic" in motivation if we are believe this "scholar", and Indira Gandhi had to destroy the constitution in order to save India, completely unlike what we idiots were thinking. We need a "scholar" like Pratab Bhanu Mehta to explain such deep things to us.

The crisis was so severe that various groups were willing to give up on purely constitutional methods. (so indira gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi were actually bulwarks against anarchy, you see, and the 42nd amendment to the constitution is not even worth mentioning in this context, apparently)The repertoire of political protest, from hartals to bandhs deployed by students, workers and political parties, made the spectre of disorder more real. It was easy to convince yourself of impending anarchy. And so India’s elites, including many sections of the left, donned the mantle of the forces of progressive order against impending anarchy. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinio ... ergencies/

INC was incompetent at running the country except for sloganeering and country was in deep doo-doo, and the only solution all the despicable vermin in the INC had was to impose emergency.

The Emergency was also an economic complex. It came on the heels of an unprecedented economic crisis and stagnation. Inflation was running at above 20 per cent. It was premised on an economic model that required more state control of the economy. Just read Pranab Mukherjee’s memoirs to see how ingrained the idea was that the solution to every problem, from fiscal deficits to food inflation, was more government crackdown. It was authoritarianism inscribed into economic thinking. So a full-blown emergency will depend on whether there is such a deep economic crisis, and if the leadership decides that crackdowns can be a substitute for the laws of economics. But the costs of this control will be immeasurably higher in a globalised economy. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinio ... ergencies/

These are all the oiseaules who pass for Indian scholars and intellectuals these days -- utterly politically compromised mofos pretending to speak "objectively" and intent on revealing the "truth" to a clueless Indian public. This dishonest a$$wipe PB Mehta actually pretends that India is currently in an emergency-like situation...now who else was mouthing these same things to embarrass the current regime? Apparently cracking down on NGOs (this is what PBM is referring to when he writes the quote below) that do not follow Indian rules and regulations is equally insidious when compared to the emergency, which involved usurpation of constitutional rights of the entire Indian populace.

We now have a crackdown we don’t see. It’s less ominous, but equally insidious.

One nehru-worshipping guy who is touted as a foreign policy analcyst these days had the audacity to pretend that the Constitutional amendment restricting freedom of expression if it causes offence, as not being such a bad thing. And this tool actually runs a sham course on public policy. Similarly, apparently the addition of "socialist" and "secular" to the constitutiton was not all that much of a bad thing apparently. You just need to put on some Nehru-coloured glasses and will see all of this as perfectly reasonable.

[rajithn]

To understand the sycophancy, the beginning of manipulated communal divisions, the caste based voting, the back biting and pure treachery of the CONgis, I would recommend you read PVNR's book, "The Insider".

[ramana]

For 2 characters defining Emergency look up Bansi Lal and Navin Chawla

[Tuvaluan]

The earlier link in this thread about Navin Chawla wanting to put people in asbestos sheets so they would burn in the summer heat is quite something -- this is basically torturing citizens against all constitutional norms without even a trial, fitting in any banana republic. Instead of skewering these excesses during the emergency, we have these intellectually dishonesnt pimps for the INC in the media and in the "policy research" crowd like Srinath Raghava and Pratap Bhanu Mehta trying to play down the Emergency.

If Rahul and Sonia Gandhi and the rest of the sycophants had nothing to do with the emergency and do not have a good opinion of it, how did Navin Chawla end up being the head of the Election Commission just a few years ago? Clearly, the INC considers Chawla as an upright citizen worthy of a constitutional post after his role in stomping all over the constitution during the emergency, which also says exactly how sorry the INC is for imposing the Emergency -- the mofos in the INC would do it again if they got a chance. The Indian media scum seem to be working tirelessly to make that happen too.

Then again, the Indians of voting age ended up voting Indira Gandhi back to power with a total majority after all that she did to them...so what is one to say about that?

[Tuvaluan]

And this is why the "historian" Srinath Raghava thinks we are in an emergency kind-of situation today -- effing INC w***e (he retweeted this article...yeah, retweets are not endorsements...and humans are not some kind of monkeys, I know).

The logic is just fascinating -- Indira Gandhi and a pliant president changed the rule book, so whatever she did was not unconstitutional (except for that part about changing the rule book, but who's keeping track? Certainly not Srinath Raghava). All the acts were court approved, so it was all ok in legal terms.

So, according to his self-proclaimed historian, India is now in an emergency like situation because apparently the "media is pliant" and no one questions him in his party or government --- apparently the fact that he delegates matters and does not micro-manage escapes Srinath Raghava.

Note how this guy and Pratap Bhanu Mehta does not see the Sonia regime, where nothing moved without her saying so as more authoritarian than the current government. The New Delhi Babucracy and their scum-sucking spawn all over the globe are the real enemies of Indian democracy.

Just check this logic out:

The rupture

Emergency was imposed in 1975 by invoking Article 352 of the Constitution. It was signed by the President.

There was nothing unconstitutional about it. The government's powers stemmed from the Constitution.

Even the draconian acts of preventive detention were approved by the court.

It wasn't just about Indira Gandhi's craving for power. It was a failure of institutions.

The repeat

Institutions like Cabinet, bureaucracy and media are as pliant now as earlier.

There is a personality cult around Modi, as there was around Indira Gandhi.

No one is willing to question him within his party and government.

This has the potential of creating another 'Emergency-like' situation.

The reality

Many of us see nothing wrong in authoritarian leadership.

We tolerate, even hail, autocratic decisions in the name of security and national pride.

What are these autocratic decisions being made? All of them were made by the arms of government tasked with making these decisions, not by Modi personally, but that won't stop Srinath Raghava from rewriting history in real time, as it happens. Just repeat a lie often enough, and it will eventually stick seems to be the dictum of PBM and SR and their "scholar"ly ilk.

This is less about defending NaMo or this regime, than it is about the utter intellectual dishonesty and ethical bankruptcy of the Indian intellectual/scholar crowd that is being reared out in the open by the New Delhi Bureaucracy. The real question is what do they gain by covering up the truth about the emergency unless they do not want their own rather large role in perpetuating the emergency to emerge? If not, what?

Apparently the fact that the congress party was running the educational system that keeps today's youngster clueless has escaped this worm suhash pashlikar who pretends that we are about to get into another emergency -- as if he is doing any favors to the youngsters with this kind of hyperbole about Emergency.

Why we never mention the Emergency

The Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 is part of India's political history. Is it, however, part of the country's political memory?

Today, ask anyone under the age of 50 about the Emergency, you would draw a blank stare.

Every 15 August and 26 January, we celebrate our independent existence as a nation. We should also celebrate our being a democratic polity.

But Emergency seldom finds a mention at such occasions. They are, after all, moments of celebration. And collective amnesia helps celebrations.

School textbooks also don't mention the Emergency. Textbooks are based on an ostrich-like approach on the most crucial issues in our society, polity or economy. Their purpose is to make children into good, obedient citizens.