FIRST PERSON: 50 years ago attempt was made to murder democracy, but ultimately Indians prevailed

FIFTY years ago, the night of June 25, an attempt was made to murder democracy, but ultimately, people's power prevailed, saving India.

- ARUL LOUIS

The Congress party that screams the loudest about democracy was the perpetrator of the heinous crime, throwing opposition politicians, both national and local, into jails, imposing physical censorship on the media and arresting editors, stifling public opinion and strong-arming the judiciary.

It was 1975, when the summer of discontent over corruption and high-handedness gave rise to waves of fury against Indira Gandhi, whose legitimacy had been shattered by an Allahabad High Court verdict unseating her from Parliament for violations of the election laws.

Riding the crest of a mass movement that began in Gujarat and rolled across the northern plains, Jayaprakash Narayan - JP as he was known brought the spirit of the rebellion to the citadels of power in Delhi on June 25.

At the Ramlila Maidan, a spot hallowed by the annual enactment of the drama of victory of good over evil, before a crowd of 100,000, JP thundered, "Singhasan Khaali Karo Ke Janata Aaati Hai, Leave Your Throne, the People Have Come."

It was his call for Indira Gandhi to leave the prime ministership that she was clinging to with a temporary stay of the court verdict banning her from parliament.

Presciently, he also called on the police and the Army to follow their conscience and not obey illegal orders.

This writer, then a sub-editor with barely three years' experience on the overnight desk of the United News of India (UNI) news agency, witnessed firsthand the attack on democracy.

The reporters and senior editors wrapped up the story of the day and headed home, leaving the desk to this writer, Arul Louis, the founding executive editor of IANS and now its correspondent in New York, and colleague Tarun Basu, a former chief editor of IANS.

Just after midnight, ominous dispatches clacked on the teleprinter machines the electrically driven typewriter-like machine linked through telephone lines -- in the pre-digital age.