When a politician, elected to the Prime Minister's chair by a massive majority, begins to consider himself  
as the "Supreme Leader",
Then (it's almost as if) a mishap is about to happen
On top of it, a country where the people are so devoted to the Supreme Leader
that they start to consider the Supreme leader's words as truth and anything against him as a lie, 
Or a country where the media resorts to sycophancy instead of news
or where the protesters are considered a"threat" to the country and are detained 
and the Supreme Court denies a hearing to their petition
Democracy is destined to die in such a country
Along with that, every citizen of such a country has to bear the consequences of this
Irrespective of whether they are an anti-national urban naxal or an ultr -national andhbhakt(blind believer)
No, I am not talking about the Nazi Germany
This is closer to home- We are talking about our own country- India.
In today's special episode of Deshbhakt, we are going to tell you about an India
where the people were denied their Fundamental Rights
They were put in jail without being informed about the reason for their arrest
The poor had to face enormous difficulties due to the constantly changing schemes of the government
And the Supreme Court, along with the other independent institutions,
all began to function in accordance with the Government
And despite all of this happening right in front of their eyes and despite everything being conspicuous 
It was only after very long that it began to rankle the minds of the people 
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With a complete majority of 352 seats, Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister once again in 1971
The people too, had complete faith in her
Alongside that, she had ousted the Pakistanis from Bangladesh
Indira Gandhi had already placed the proof of her nationalism right before the country
and the entire country viewed her as a strong Prime Minister
who would make India a world leader once again
The "India is Indira and Indira is India" slogans of that time
signalled that raising a question on Indira Gandhi would amount to raising a question on the country
Emboldened by this pride, Indira Gandhi began to run the country on her own conditions
But the relationship between democracy and pride is the same as the relationship between talent and nepotism
that is, no body benefits in the end.
The rising prices, unemployment and the sorry state of the farmers which followed the 1973 Oil Shock 
led to the rise in resentment of the people against Indira Gandhi (akin to the rise in the petrol prices!)
Some students of the "tuke tukde gang" and the "urban naxal" middle class people in Gujarat
began a new movement against her
The "Nav Nirman Movement" was started
It was a massive movement and there was a lot of destruction of public property as well
The political careers of a lot of people also kicked off during this movement
For example, Narendra Modi- who went on to become the General secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Samiti, Gujarat after this movement
But the government and its supporters believed that these students should go to college to study rather than directing questions at the government
These anti- nationals!
But revolutionary protesters like Modiji refused to back down 
The Bihar Chaatr Sangharsh Samiti, under the leadership of Jay Prakash Narayan, gave a call for "complete revolution"
Along with them, the trade unions across the country (especially the Railway Union), were all on strike
Amidst all this ongoing opposition against Indira Gandhi,
 on 12th June, 1975, came the judgement of the Allahabad High Court 
which consolidated the fears of being de-throned in Indira Gandhi
It so happened... Hold on. Why am I telling you all of this?
We have already given you a detailed analysis of all that the Supreme court did or did not do during the emergency, in this episode
Do check that out!
Broadly speaking, the Allahabad High Court, under the Representation of the People Act held Indira Gandhi 
culpable for making use of an employee of the Prime Minister's office during the elections
and she was debarred from contesting the elections for the upcoming 6 years
This came as a huge shock!
Think about it- when was the last time a High Court showed the nerve to lock horns with the Supreme Leader directly?
The rape accused puny politicians seem to wriggle out so easily
And here, we're talking about the Prime Minister!
Indira Gandhi was in for another shock
when the Supreme Court put a partial stay on the order. It was not revoked completely
and debarred Indira Gandhi from voting in the Parliament
That served as the breaking point
Then Indira Gandhi spoke to the President and put the entire country on a lockdown, citing a state of emergency 
President Fakruddin Ahmad conceded before Indira Gandhi
and declared an emergency under Article 352(1) of the Constitution
According to this article,
 if the President feels that there is a danger of "internal disturbances" erupting in some parts of the country
then an emergency can be declared within the country
On the 26th of June, Indira Gandhi, sharp at 8o'clock in the morning, 
(8 o'clock in the morning, mind you)
addressed the citizens on the All India Radio and laid bare her "Mann ki Baat"(what was in her mind)
The reason behind the declaration of emergency was also explained to the people
In short, it was a matter of saving Indian democracy and national security
from the "tukde tukde gang" (the separatists)
Ameliorating the conditions of the poor was talked about
#GaribiHatao (eradicate poverty) was the master of all Hyperboles
The country needed saving from the foreign powers that wanted to break the nation into pieces
She told the people that the emergency was only a matter of a few days
 and everything would be alright after that
It is difficult to point out how these "few days" turned into 21 months!
and it became unclear as to when the people got accustomed to this idea of a "virtual democracy"
These 21 months are considered to be the most disgraceful time in democracy 
because all our rights were compromised with
because the government was not only protecting itself under the garb of democracy,
it was also trying to accomplish an agenda which would be extremely difficult to achieve in a normal democracy
We will tell you what that was in a short while
But before that, let us find out what the reactions of the people were when such a drastic step was taken
The term "emergency" creates a pall of gloom almost as if someone has turned on Baghbaan on the TV
But not every one was piqued with the declaration of emergency in the country
Several people showed their support as well
For instance, almost all the leaders of Congress(R) and the CPI party
The "bhakts" (blind supporters) of Indira Gandhi were celebrating the declaration of emergency
All questions were given the same answer- Indira Gandhi must have had something in mind before she did this!
The bhakts (blind supporters) were of the opinion that the emergency would reduce the anarchy in the country
The trains would run on time. The students would go back to studying in the colleges
Work would progress smoothly in government offices and some cleanliness would also follow 
There would be no protest or rallies. The roads would all be clear
And everything would be set alright within the country
However, there were some intellectuals who had the courage to write/speak up against the government policies during the emergency
For example, authors like Salam Rushdie and V. S. Naipaul protested against the emergency in their books
While films like "Kissa kursi ka" (the saga of the chair), "Nasbandi" (Vasectomy), "Andhi" (the storm)
took a jibe at emergency and the authoritarian reign of Indira Gandhi 
And do you think that Indira Gandhi honored the freedom of expression after all of this?
*inserts a clip to taunt this belief*
The same treatment was meted out to these books and films as the Chinese TVs in Gujarat
In fact, Sanjay Gandhi had set fire to all the prints of the powerful satirical movie- "Kissa Kursi ka"
But you will come across several interesting facts, stats and figures regarding this film in this episode
which we painstakingly put together for all of you. Do watch it!
It is difficult to imagine seeing such a Bollywood movie in today's times
Right now, the Bollywood is invested in clicking selfies
But there were some writers that backed the emergency 
and that too without any terms and conditions. "Zindagi ke sath bhi, zondagi ke baadbhi" (both with and after life)
40 renowned writers and poets wrote an open letter and extended their support
One of whom was, the poet- Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan
who hailed Indira Gandhi's decision of proclaiming an emergency to curb anti-national forces
Woa! What a masterstroke!
But did all dissent cease during emergency?
No!
There were some people who, even during these trying times, demanded their rights from the government
They dared to speak out against the government
and the government did grant them their rights
Ha ha! I was only joking!
All these "anti nationals" that raised questions were jailed
They were kept jailed for months without any bail. The courts, too, did not hear their petitions
The leader of these anti- national groups was Jayaprakash Narayan
who called for the resignation of the Prime Minister
and kept the students across the country united
Arun Jaitley emerged as a student leader in this J P Movement
We have talked about his exploits in this episode. Do watch this episode 
and understand the history of the student protests
And not only this, Arun Gandhi even went on to compare Indira Gandhi to Hitler
Now, Indira Gandhi did not have a troll army back then or Jaitley ji would have been set right then and there
Apart from them, there were several other opposition leaders-  Ram Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
L.K Advani and the icon of emergency, George Fernandes
All of them were detained
Organizations like RSS and the Jamati Islami were banned as well
Sending the opposition to jail, detaining the protesters and violating the Fundamental rights
while the Supreme Court was already running under the influence of Indira Gandhi
Woa! Now, that is called a mastestroke!
Although the Supreme Court let us down big time, but even then,
there was Justice H.R. Khanna who kept the bond between dissent and democracy alive
Apart from this, the fourth pillar of democracy- the press- was also coming under attack of "censorship" from Indira Gandhi
The very same night on which the decision of emergency was taken,
Indira Gandhi cut all the power lines of the newspaper offices
No power would ensure no printing of newspapers
A surgical strike on the press!
After this, the media had to seek permission from the government before printing anything
Several B and D media houses, I mean coward and intimidated media houses, gave in pretty easily
In the words of Advani ji, they began to "crawl"
Some media houses like the Indian Express and The Statesmen did not succumb to pressure
and they kept on protesting against the government and kept on publishing the truth
For example, in a show of dissent, the Indian express left their editorial space blank
Times of India published a condolence for democracy
And magazines like India Today came to limelight during this time
But the trust and faith in the media and press, that the people lost back then
has not yet been restored years later!
Maybe this is why the people and even the media channels trust the WhatsApp more 
even more than themselves!
It has been 45 years since the emergency
but it might be that this mistake, the greatest one to have been made by Congress gets concealed behind the pile of "errors of 70 years"
The fact is that our citizenry is extremely gullible
As long as the government keeps talking about issues like nationalism,soldiers in Siachen and India becoming a superpower,
everything is okay
But when matters close in on us, then the people remember the importance of raising questions in a democracy
Even then, the people did not raise a lot of questions on emergency
barring the opposition, the tukde-tukde gang, student leaders, urban naxals etc etc.
But Sanjay Gandhi kept pushing his vasectomy drive forward with the help of emergency
The people were forcefully captured and sterilized in the name of family planning
Around 6.2 million Indians were operated for vasectomy due to this
This is 15 times the number of people that were operated upon in Nazi Germany
Around 2000 people lost their lives due to this unplanned and poorly implemented programme
But we brush it off to the side for being a paltry number
Its like they say, "Don't get into those maths"
The slogans before the imposition of democracy were, "Garibi hatao" (eradicate poverty)
During the time of emergency, it transformed into "Garib Hatao" (eradicate the poor)
and one and a half years later the people realized that they were literally going to be "operated upon"
Only then, there were some protests protests against the democracy
But it is also true that Indira Gandhi herself had revoked the emergency 
and took the decision of conducting elections in January, 1977
There was no force or protest or international pressure upon her
So, why did Indira Gandhi do this?
Even his own son, Sanjay Gandhi does not know
Sanjay Gandhi is quoted in the book of Kuldip Nayar where the former says
that he believed that there would be no election for the 30-40 years that followed the imposition of democracy
This would have been the real masterstroke of Indira Gandhi
The complete annihilation of democracy
But it is said that Indira Gandhi believed that the people were very happy with her
and announcing elections would mean that she would return to power again in a democratic manner
But there was no ITcell or B and D anchors to brainwash people back then
So the elections were held
and the defeat and the repercussions that Indira Gandhi faced after that will be discussed sometime in another episode
Today, not in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the declaration of emergency
but to make you aware of the trials of emergency and the vasectomy,
the team of Deshbhakt has come up with this episode
So that in case it has slipped your mind
it may be reiterated that sometimes, even democratically elected leaders need to be reminded of the power of democracy
and only then would there be a balance in democracy
We hope that you would have liked this episode
Jai Hind
We keep getting several requests from the Deshbhakt community to tell us which episode to work on
and this was probably one of the most requested episodes
A refresher course on Emergency
in order to understand how easy it is to undo democracy and lead the people astray
We hope that you watch this entire episode on emergency
and get surprised by some new facts
It is extremely important for the generation that has not witnessed emergency
that democracy is extremely fragile and if we do not raise questions
and if we do not keep our leaders in check,
then it becomes extremely easy to undo democracy
We hope that you would have liked this episode
Even if you did not like it, go vent your ire in the comment section. We are right here for that
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