When India Was Turned into a Vast Prison House

The 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the Emergency should respect history, not serve politics. For the Congress, it is an opportunity to apologize for the excesses of the era, and the government could release all political detenus

- Gopalkrishna Gandhi

On the 50th anniversary of its promulgation, falling on June 25, the horrors of the national Emergency (1975-1977) will be recalled by just about everyone as the darkest period in post-Independence India. The Emergency regime's abuse of power, its brutal suppression of democratic opposition and muzzling of free thought and expression will be excavated from the past, roundly and rightly rebuked. The ruling establishment will cite the Emergency's excesses; the Indian National Congress will not deny the venality of those excesses. Indeed, it cannot. But it will also respond by asking the government, "What about yours?" In the slanging match that might ensue, the lessons that need to be learnt from its horrors may well get lost.

For me, the horror of all the horrors of the Emergency was that India had become a vast prison house. Fear gripped the political class, the intelligentsia, the business community, and the media. During the Emergency, it has been estimated that 34,988 people were arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act and 75,818 people were arrested under the Defence of India Act and Rules.

As a 30-year-old junior officer in the Tamil Nadu cadre of the IAS, I felt like I was suddenly imprisoned myself, unable to speak my mind without looking over my shoulders, for walls had overnight acquired ears, corridors eyes. Newspapers were under the strictest censorship, and the radio relayed only government-sponsored news.

Word came through, nonetheless, of Jayaprakash Narayan, the country's tallest leader, having been woken up at three in the morning and taken to jail, and his saying, as he was being moved,