Events leading to emergency in India

It was on June 26, 1975, people in India woke up to learn about the midnight promulgation of state of ‘internal emergency’ and arrest of most of opposition politicians including those from Indira Gandhi’s own Congress party, who had been for sometime critical of her domestic policies and her growing authoritarianism. In next 18-20 months, following that declaration of emergency, there was a total subversion of the entire system of Indian Constitution and suspension of habeas corpus. With incarceration of entire opposition, the central legislature was bulldozed into passing of a spate of constitutional amendments that undermined every institution of the state. Both judiciary and press were subjected to an unprecedented intimidation through inimical and coercive tactics and were forced to toe the official line. However, the most unsettling aspect of that era was sprouting of an extra-constitution power center headed by the notorious younger son of Indira Gandhi, which during major part of the period wrought social havoc through ill-conceived social engineering directed at curbing population growth and town planning. And more than that the withering effect of that extra-constitutional power wielded by Sanjay Gandhi was that it spawned such aberrant authorities in almost every nook of the country through overzealous bureaucrats driven by the lure of power.

The details of the excesses of that period have been subject of many books, columns and gossips. But none matches the reports issued by the Shah commission that went into causes and excesses of that period with damning indictment of not only Indira Gandhi but rather entire machinery including judiciary that barring a few glorious exceptions went into over drive to further authoritarian power during that period. However, it is curious that there are very few commentaries on the causes that lead to the declaration of that ordinance on that fateful night of June 25, 1975 that virtually ended democracy in India. The immediate impetus for declaration of that infamous emergency was a judgment by Jagmohan Lal Sinha of Allahabad High Court that disqualified Indira Gandhi from holding any political office, which virtually unseated her as prime minister and less than unqualified relief from Supreme Court following an appeal. The Allahabad High Court judgment on June 12, 1975 was based on a case related to misuse of official machinery by Indira Gandhi and her officials in her Rae Barelly constituency in the elections of 1971. It was maverick Raj Narian, whom Indira Gandhi had soundly beaten in that election, but had brought that case against her. In his judgment, the concerned justice had followed law to the last letter. Pertinently, in a very recent judgment on Affordable Health Care chose to overlook four words that were in not consonant with law and decided in favor of the administration. In the judgment written by Chief Justice it is stated “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.”  The justices of the US supreme courts were aware of the havoc their decision to the contrary would create. In that context even Jagmohan Lal Sinha would have been aware of the consequences of unseating an elected Prime Minister would create. Congress Party under Indira Gandhi had won a huge mandate in the national election she had called in 1971 followed by another sweep in 1972 elections for state legislatures. The next parliamentary elections were already due in less than a year’s time.

Much before that judgment from the Allahabad High Court, the country had been mired in a deep agitation led by an old Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan who was joined by almost the entire political opposition of the country barring a faction of communists. And despite their numerical irrelevance in the legislature the agitation by the combined opposition had a debilitating effect on already unsteady government and Indira Gandhi felt herself under a continuous siege.  Particularly, a call by the agitating parties to armed forces to disobey governmental authority a day before the declaration of emergency did not prove very helpful. The country had become a very different place compared to the time of Indira Gandhi’s 1971 election victory and her successful leadership during the war that led to the creation of Bangladesh. Even her stringent critics had hailed her at that time, with Vajapayee going to the extent of calling her incarnation of goddess. Following the elections for state legislatures in 1972, the Congress party under Indira Gandhi controlled all states with the exception of Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir. It was from that point on the things went only down the hill.

Although, a number of causes and circumstances contributed to the fast deteriorating situation, the main issues were political, economical and personal. India might have attained a clear victory in 1971 war, nevertheless, the costs were huge, which coupled with almost three years of failed monsoon and the agitation by the opposition itself in particular devastating railway strikes of 1974, all contributed to uncertain conditions. International economic situation of the time also added to the growing woes, in particular almost a tenfold increase in price of crude oil following the embargo by Arab states in response to Arab-Israeli Yim Kippur war of 1973 created a deep hole into national finances. Another crucial extenuating cause for the emerging situation was an inherent deep insecurity of Indira Gandhi and her distrust of people around her. That was a major promoter for the displacement of old seasoned bureaucrats like P. N. Haksar, by disturbingly brash Sanjay Gandhi and his coterie of ruffians.

People like Haksar and his peers had served Indira Gandhi well through her struggles against old guard of the Congress party. They devised plans for a spectacular victory in 1971 parliamentary elections after engineering a defeat in 1969 of Sanjeeva Reddy, the official Congress candidate for Presidency favored by the old guard that included Morarjee Desai, Nijanlingappa, Kamraj and others. Morarji Desai and Sanjeeva Reddy did ultimately go on to become Prime Minister and President after 1977 rout of Congress. But back in the days after Lal Bahadur Shastri's death in 1966 and again in 1966 after dismal performance in elections, the old guard in Congress party backed Indira Gandhi over Morarjee Desai for premiership with an ulterior motive of being able to manipulate a meek woman. It was already too late before they realized their misjudgment and Indira Gandhi, as Margret Thatcher famously said about herself, was not for turning. That started a perennial struggle for the control, which to the disbelief of later generation had an ideological component. Indira Gandhi went on to take progressive measure through nationalization of banks and abolition of privy purses and titles of erstwhile princes. The old guard in the party, failing to read the popular mood, opposed both those and other progressive measures. The bank nationalization, in particular, led to exit of Morarji Desai, a hard core capitalist, from the cabinet and ultimate split in the party.

In a cynical view, those measures by Indira Gandhi could be mere tactical maneuvers to win political battles. It remains, however, one of the follies of all times to view history through the current prism. Those definitely were progressive measures and nationalization of banks at that time had a visible effect towards betterments in society. It might be hard to understand but those were hard times with of rampant shortages and chronic paucity of liquidity; the nationalization of banks opened doors for small and medium loans for general population even in remote places that until then never had an easy access to such facilities. Her battles were not over yet; the conservative justices of Supreme Court stuck down laws nationalizing banks and privy purses, forcing further constitutional amendments. That had been in part the reason for a later decision of her government to elevate A. N. Ray as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in April 1973 following the retirement of Chief Justice S: M. Sikri and in the process three prominent judges, Justices Hegde, Shehlat and grover resigned after being superseded. Justice A. N. Ray was the only dissenting judge on the bench that had struck down bank nationalization. Unprecedented supersession of the Supreme Court judges provided further ammunition to the critics of Indira Gandhi.    

It is quite interesting that Indira Gandhi had the quality of inherent insecurity in common with Richard Nixon, whereas they famously detested each other. According to Katherine Frank, they both instinctively recoiled from one another and that animosity played to full during that 1971 war and led to the famous US tilt towards Pakistan. Henry Kissinger described the talks between Indira and Nixon as ‘classic dialogue of the deaf’ and mentions in his memoirs that Nixon’s comments about Indira Gandhi afterwards were not always printable. Pertinently, it was that inherent insecurity and instinctive disinclination to trust anyone that led to ultimate downfall of both. For Nixon that downfall came through Watergate scandal and for Indira Gandhi, it was through her reliance on Sanjay Gandhi after declaration of emergency. But the declaration of emergency, as per Katherine Frank, more than that judgment was in reaction to threat from Jayprakash Narayan and Morarji Desai to reduce government to chaos and stage a non-military coup.    
-Rajiv Kumar

Selfie, yoga and an idiot

When Modi became Prime Minister with an unprecedented  majority for his rabid right wing party of fundamentalists, I was afraid he would lead the country to a disaster. Those are fears that are definitely coming true, but for an entirely different causation, which is plain and simple. The plain and unembellished fact is that he is a vacuous idiot. His solutions to country's unhealthy hygiene was to photograph equally dumb socialites of the society at a few places with brooms in their hands and stupid smiles on their faces. And to tackle female foeticide, he has come with an idea of selfies with daughters. I am still not able to fathom the reason for him lying down and comically rolling over at Rajpath, a few days back, on a yoga mat. He might be a fool but he perhaps had an early realization that the place is ungovernable, otherwise buffoons would not have voted for a buffoon. 

Indian Emergencies: Effects and Causes

It was on June 26, 1975, people in India woke up to learn about the midnight promulgation of state of ‘internal emergency’ and arrest of most of opposition politicians including those from Indira Gandhi’s own Congress party, who had been for sometime critical of her domestic policies and her growing authoritarianism. In next 18-20 months, following that declaration of emergency, there was a total subversion of the entire system of Indian Constitution and suspension of habeas corpus. With incarceration of entire opposition, the central legislature was bulldozed into passing of a spate of constitutional amendments that undermined every institution of the state. Both judiciary and press were subjected to an unprecedented intimidation through inimical and coercive tactics and were forced to toe the official line. However, the most unsettling aspect of that era was sprouting of an extra-constitution power center headed by the notorious younger son of Indira Gandhi, which during major part of the period wrought social havoc through ill-conceived social engineering directed at curbing population growth and town planning. And more than that the withering effect of that extra-constitutional power wielded by Sanjay Gandhi was that it spawned such aberrant authorities in almost every nook of the country through overzealous bureaucrats driven by the lure of power.

The details of the excesses of that period have been subject of many books, columns and gossips. But none matches the reports issued by the Shah commission that went into causes and excesses of that period with damning indictment of not only Indira Gandhi but rather entire machinery including judiciary that barring a few glorious exceptions went into over drive to further authoritarian power during that period. However, it is curious that there are very few commentaries on the causes that lead to the declaration of that ordinance on that fateful night of June 25, 1975 that virtually ended democracy in India. The immediate impetus for declaration of that infamous emergency was a judgment by Jagmohan Lal Sinha of Allahabad High Court that disqualified Indira Gandhi from holding any political office, which virtually unseated her as prime minister and less than unqualified relief from Supreme Court following an appeal. The Allahabad High Court judgment on June 12, 1975 was based on a case related to misuse of official machinery by Indira Gandhi and her officials in her Rae Barelly constituency in the elections of 1971. It was Maverick Raj Narian, whom Indira Gandhi had soundly beaten in that election had brought that case against her. In his judgment, the concerned justice had followed law to the last letter. Pertinently, in a very recent judgment on Affordable Health Care, the US Supreme Court chose to overlook four words that were in not consonant with law and decided in favor of the administration. In the judgment written by Chief Justice Roberts, it is stated “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.” The justices of the US Supreme Court were aware of the havoc their decision to the contrary would create. In that context even Jagmohan Lal Sinha would have been aware of the consequences of unseating an elected Prime Minister would create. Congress Party under Indira Gandhi had won a huge mandate in the national election she had called in 1971 followed by another sweep in 1972 elections for state legislatures. The next parliamentary elections were already due in less than a year’s time.

To be continued….

-Rajiv Kumar

A cold morning in December 1975

It was a cold December morning in 1975. It had been in many ways a monumental year for both Kashmir and India. And that morning despite being cold and cloudy had an idyllic aura and promise for future. If there was a foreboding of future upheavals, that was not something that many at that time had on their minds. Two major events of the year, which was almost coming to an end, were an accord between Sheikh Abdullah and Indira Gandhi following the culmination of torturous Beg-Parthasarthy talks. The accord paved way for Sheikh Abdullah to become chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir almost twenty-two years after his illegal and most ill conceived dismissal as the Prime Minister of the state by the Indian administration. In the interim, governance in the state had a feeling of being unreal with hand picked chief ministers lacking democratic legitimacy and who were at all times at the mercy of their masters in Delhi. The assumption of power of power in the state by Sheikh Abdullah suddenly brought gravitas and a sense to the administration that until then had tethered on sleaziness and illegitimacy. The effect was real, eclectic and perceptible. If there was a single department, which stood out, it was education that until then had suffered from scourge of patronage and mass copying. There is another but completely pertinent matter that in a few years the mechanics of Indian machinery and unscrupulous local politicians who had lost crumbs of power would turn that accord into a ploy to strengthen the occupation rather than guaranteeing the agreed maximum autonomy to the state. As per the accord itself, it is always convenient to pass a judgment with the benefit of hindsight but to be present in that era is an altogether different matter.      

Another consequential chapter of that momentous year, which shook the very foundations of the democratic structures of the Indian state, was promulgation of the internal emergency by Indira Gandhi following the verdict of Allahabad high court that disqualified her from holding any elected office. That declaration itself, incarceration of many opposition leaders, complete censorship of news media and spates of constitutional amendments bulldozed through the truncated parliament virtually paralyzed the Indian democracy. India was enveloped in a pal of gloom that due to the very presence of Sheikh Abdullah in power did not affect Kashmir. The two events would eventually coalesce as Indira Gandhi for some reasons realized the wisdom of democracy and declared elections in the country in spring of 1977, despite the vehement opposition from her coterie that included notorious Sanjay Gandhi. Those elections resulted in a complete loss for Indira Gandhi and her party at all over India. The local congress party incidentally under none other than Mufti Saeed tried to engineer a coup of sort by withdrawing support to Sheikh Abdullah, which virtually amounted to reneging on their promises made in the accord. But for the then governor of the state L. K. Jha, wily Mufti Sayeed might have succeeded back then in attaining power. L. K. Jha instead on the advice of the Chief Minister called for fresh elections that gave a huge mandate to National Conference and resulted in decimation of Congress and other disparate groups that had opportunistically joined hands. Mufti Sayeed did get his chance to play a spoilsport not once but many times after the death of Sheikh Abdullah. But that would be for some other time.    

It was on that December morning of 1975, I went to meet Sheikh Nazir at his office-residence at Nedous. Sheikh Nazir besides being a close confidante of Sheikh Abdullah was an eminent practicing lawyer. I was in my teens but that never prevented Sheikh Nazir from greeting me with dignified courteous civility. He would always get up from his chair and extend his hand. On that particular day, when I entered his office he as usual got up from his chair with an extended handed, despite there being a number of people from National Conference sitting in his office. Once he finished dealing with other visitors, he asked me that I should accompany him to his office on the Court Road so that he could talk me on the way. I went out with him expecting an awaiting vehicle along with an entourage. There was no vehicle and there was no entourage and we started to walk towards the Court Road and for me that was an exalted lesson in humility. That was besides, the other things I learnt from Sheikh Nazir during that walk that lasted close to forty minutes. I had privilege to visit Sheikh Nazir occasionally following years until my research work completely consumed me. There was always that uprightness and dignity without a trace of arrogance. He was always courteous. I was filled with a tinge of sadness on reading the news about his death on February 24, 2015. I recalled with a pride for having known such a dignified human being who could have attained any position in the government but chose not to.     

-Rajiv Kumar

That dark night in Ayodhaya

It was on 22nd December 1949 when thugs of Hindu Mahasabha, following a conceited plan succeeded in planting an idol in the Babri Masjid in Ayodhaya. Through thoroughly duplicitous mechanics in connivance with a partisan district magistrate and an ambivalent congress government led by Gobind Ballabh Pant, they created a semblance of a dispute, when there was none. The structure had a been a mosque for centuries and it never was a temple; it was never disputed. The temple was located outside the mosque and both existed in complete harmony for centuries, though the lunatics of hinduvta always made attempts to take over the structure at different times. But on that night they sent Abhiram Das into the mosque with an idol when guarded by a compliant policeman and next morning they created a mass frenzy by pretending a miracle. They executed their nefarious act after hatching that plan for years. Then they waited another forty years  before thugs led by Advani and company launched a final assault on that historical monument and brought it down along with it the social fabric of the society. India must feel safe now, as those who planned that deceit in 1949 and created mayhem in 1992 are now ruling the country.

Poisonous chalice and fragmented mandate

Who could have ever predicted the surreality of our times where an ultra rabid Hindu party became a leading force in the state of Jammu and Kashmir? Formation of any government seems all but improbable without BJP being part of it. Though, it singularly failed to win a single constituency in Kashmir, nevertheless it did find find enough people to fight election in the valley under its banner. Though not many will remember, the party had tried in earlier times to get a foothold in Kashmir.

Back in an earlier era, elections in Kashmir would mostly be decided, without votes being cast, in the offices of district deputy commissioners. The elections for the central parliament and the state assemblies would be announced with all fanfare matched by declaration of candidacies by various political outfits and independent aspirants. The ruling party, democratic national conference (DNC) that later turned itself into a franchise of Indian National Congress, of course, would anoint its own list of candidates to become members of the state legislature. The due process of elections would begin with filings of nominations and would in most cases end on the day of scrutiny. Barring a miracle, most of the candidates not belonging to the ruling dispensation would find their nominations rejected. The reasons for rejections could range from outright bizarre to utter absurd. For a few days there would be protests and outrages that eventually petered out with time and newly elected members of the state assembly assume their due places of power.

Under those circumstances, it was around late 1966 or 1967, the Jan Sangh, an earlier and equally rabid avatar of BJP made a foray in Kashmir. It opened its offices in dingy houses,  recruited workers, mainly Pandits. In the election of spring 1967, it did announce its candidates for some constituencies but its bid ended on the day of scrutiny along with all other opposition candidates. Back then even at an all India level party was consider no more than a motley crowd of rabble rousers with following confined to urban centers. But its rabid agenda was as obscurantist as it remains now. But perhaps lack of dissemination of information allowed the party to function in Kashmir for a few months, until one of its bigoted leaders, Balraj Madhok, decided to visit the place to raise its fortunes by asking, at a public rally, Muslims to migrate to Pakistan. That was the last time anybody in Kashmir saw a Jan Sangh office until now.

The irony is that in that era when elections were decided in favor of the ruling party by returning officers, Mufti Sayeed used to be beneficiary of the system. Now as a head of PDP, he has been handed a poisonous chalice in the form of a fractured mandate. Should he join the party of Madhok's descendants or not? But then every chess game has its moment of checkmate.

March of dementedness

When Modi and his brigade took power in May last year, all I thought was that they will use cowardice to propagate their agenda of divisiveness and thuggery. They, while paying homage to Gandhi, will revere Godse; while talking development, they will start imposing their obscurantist world view on the country. As it turned out as a matter of fact they have done all that until now and one can easily perceive that they have just started and any  prophecy about shape of things at the fruition of their retrograde diligence can be anything but dreadful. What I never foresaw was level of their utter dementedness, which would end up embarrassing the entire country.

Hard it may be, but it is inconceivable that Modi didn't believe his utterances about  plastic surgery and genetics in ancient India. He was talking to surgeons and physicians. The inclusion of a session on Vedic science in Indian Science Congress where right wing leaning pseudo scientists pronounced prevalence of interplanetary airplanes in ancient India that too seven thousands years ago. That must have been hard for those scientists and academics of Indian origin who not so long ago were admiring every word that Modi rambled in Madison Square. Foolish utterances of those in the Modi government and his party have attained a comically predictable certainty.

Those developments might have come as a shock bordering on disgust to those who believed in that humbug of promised growth and progress. Had they predicated their government agenda on those premises, the education of the country would not have been put in the hands of a semi-literate person who would be appointing appointing directors and ordering vice-chancellors of premier institutes of education. Nations that value education never confuse mythology with history or even pertinently with science. If they really believed in religion they would be humble and not full of ignorant certitude. Alas, all they have in their agenda is implementation of their narrow demented ideas. Theirs is a march of dementedness with which they are hell bent on deluging the entire country.

15th street Washington Post

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Washington Post on 15th Street

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Vacuousness and drunken stupor

Last week a Dutch court held that country's government responsible for 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which Muslin men and boys were murdered in cold blood after the declared safe-haven protected by Dutch peace-keepers was run over by Serb forces under the command of Ratko Mladić. Ratko Mladic was the chief of the staff of the Srpska Republic army and Radovan Karadžić was the president. Both of them have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for their crimes against humanity and are waiting their trials at the international court. Two of them are refered to as butchers of Bosnia as they led their Serbian army with a single intent of ethnic cleansing at the very end of twentieth century in a part of Europe. Both Karadžić and Mladić remained elusive for long time until the unrelenting arm of international criminal justice penetrated their covers. The task of their capture was made easy by changed times in Serbia itself, with the ultimate thug, Milosovic having long been disposed and handed over to the war tribunal in The Hague. He died during his trial and cruelly escaped justice for his crimes that included the persecution of Kosovars that ended only through NATO bombardment. 

Pertinently, someone remarked on social media that elevation of Amit Shah as president of ruling party in India has an echo of Karadžić and Mladić returning to the corridors of power. Both Modi and his henchman indulged in no less an ethnic cleansing of their own. Judiciary might have been ambivalent in the case Modi, but there were never ambiguities concerning the culpability of Amit Shah. The ambivalence in the case of the former was nothing more than technical and has more to do with the pliability of the system than any doubts about actual intent of the crimes committed under his watch. Instead of waiting for their trial, they are now the most powerful people in the country. If one leaves their crimes aside for moment and assess as to how the the new government with massive majority is going about the bussiness of running the country.

I think no body could sum that better than Jawed Naqvi, who in a column in The Dawn described functioning of the saffron government as vacuous. He went on describe an anecdote, which is reproduced here,

"NARENDRA Modi’s instant prescriptions to cure India’s chronic troubles are vacuous or easy or both.The conclusions are reminiscent of the full moon night when Majaaz, Lucknow’s guru of wit and poetry, returned home punch drunk. The house was in a shambles. Policemen were shining torches into the ransacked cupboards. The ladies of the house were huddled in a corner, anxiety writ on their noble faces.

Spotting Majaaz in his unbuttoned sherwani and dishevelled hair, one of the sisters cried out in anguish. Whoever had broken into their house had taken away everything, she sobbed. Majaaz, we are told, watched the proceedings silently, shifting his weight from dizzy toes to tipsier heels and back.

Using the palm of his hand as a hood over his eyes he took as good a view as he could get of puzzled cops gaping at emptied out teakwood almirahs. Then, with an air of insight he muttered what seemed like a considered opinion: “Ye to kisi chor ki harkat maaloom hoti hai.” (This looks like the work of a thief.)"

Well Majaaz was drunk at the time, but Modi and his government with their limited discerning intellects are bound to indulge in absurdism more often than would be normal. Their approach to governance couldn't have been anything else because their and their supporters world-views are nothing but vacuous. That vacuousness combined with sinister communal intent is shaping their agenda. Instead of approaching Kashmir issue with a broader outlook, the saffron government has entered it through a communal fissure and at the same time started making noises of of much misunderstood article 370. 

Whatever, they understand or may even do about it, the article 370 of the constitution cannot be abrogated. Because, that is the article that defines the relationship between Jammu and Kashmir state and the union throught article 1 of the Indian constitution. Were they to abrogate the said article, the state will cease to be the part of the Indian union. And any change in the article has to be agreed by the state constituent assembly that had dissolved itself in late 1950s. The true implication is that all Indian laws extended to the state after dissolution of the constituent assembly are ipso facto illegitimate. Even if, were the government able to abrogate the article, would that solve any of the issues and undo the criminality committed by the Indian occupation of the place. 

The real absurdity lies not only in what this government does, rather in what it has meticulously avoided to do. Avoidance of discussion on ongoing human tragedy in the parliament was absurdly comical. But then like Majaaz in drunken stupor, both Modi and Sushma Sawaraj, in this case, can clearly see that Palestinians and Israelis are bombing each other. Anyway with a hard core ideological fanatic as the head of Indian Council Historical Research, they soon will have a new history, so why to take sides now.

-Rajiv Kumar