Emergency Was All About Protecting Indira's Position as PM: Seshadri Chari

Chari, a veteran RSS leader, was jailed during the Emergency, witnessed police oppression and the suppression of fundamental freedoms firsthand.

- TIKAM SHARMA

Veteran RSS leader and former editor of the English weekly Organiser, who was an office bearer of the Bhartiya Jan Sangh (BJS), went underground during the infamous Emergency and later jailed in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail, shares his experience of the dark days.

Here are the excerpts from an interview with Dr Seshadri Chari:

Q. In hindsight, what do you believe was the most severe impact of the Emergency on ordinary citizens?

A. Initially the Emergency was seen as a temporary issue and the ordinary people believed that it would be withdrawn after some time. But gradually, the 'police raj' began to hit the people hard. Many RSS workers were detained and people living around these swayamsevaks realised that a nationalist organisation was being vilified and innocent people were being jailed for no fault of theirs.

Later, when excesses of Emergency mainly in police stations and jails were reported by underground pamphlets and spread by word of mouth, people were agitated. All the goodwill that Indira Gandhi had gained during the Bangladesh liberation war was squandered away by her with this one single reckless act of imposing Emergency.