Run up to 2014: Resembling to 1977

Dr Ravindra Agrawal

The country is passing through an atmosphere similar to 1977. Internal Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975 and with the declaration of elections in 1977, the entire country had awakened from its deep silence and slumber to the new opportunity. It was mind-boggling to know the source of lakhs of people attending the rallies and meetings of Jai Prakash Narayan.

For those crores of young voters who would cast their first ballot in 2014 polls, the Emergency would appear as a nightmare. And it was indeed a nightmare! Then there were no social media and news channels as we have today; only limited cities had access to Doordarshan that too government controlled, and censorship for the newspapers. No news would find the light of the day without the permission of the government. The entire Opposition was cramped behind the bars. The aam aadmi all over the country knew nothing about the whereabouts of the leaders. Only the stories of ‘Mom and Son’ were doing the rounds. ‘Mom’ was Indira Gandhi and ‘Son’ was Sanjay Gandhi. The Government would dance to the tunes of the ‘Son’ exactly as of the present times. Only difference was then the Emergency was in force, while today the entire Cabinet bows down to the whims of the ‘Son’ sans Emergency. Dr Manmohan Singh is Prime Minister for the namesake but the entire power is consolidated in the hands of ‘Mom and Son’. There is one more difference between then and now—then the mother and the son were blamed for Emergency, while today they have nominated Dr Manmohan Singh for it.

The country then passed through a transition period and today also there is a transitional period. This fact was made known when the entire country, especially the youth, stood behind Anna Hazare supporting his agitation for  clean politics and appointment of a Lokpal, a couple of years ago. It was the same youth who is often blamed for just concerned over his career and earning money who threw his weight behind Anna’s stir. The same expression of youth power was witnessed in the aftermath of Nirbhaya case in Delhi. It was another story that Delhi police tried to frame some of them in the killing of one of their men, as they used to do during the Emergency.

What has happened in the past few years that the entire country is witnessing a different kind of unrest? Dr Manmohan Singh formed the UPA II amidst slogans of ‘Singh is King’ in 2009. In such a short period, what went wrong that has affected the psyche of the entire people? Why the society lost faith in political leaders, bureaucrats, industrialists, social activists and media? It is true that the stories of the scams involving paid news, Neera Radia tape expose, the 2G, CWG, Helicopter purchase, Coal Gate, Adarsha Society and so on had shaken the public psyche to the hilt. At the same time the incursions at the border by the Chinese and Pakistani forces, planned attacks on constitutional bodies by the government, deteriorating law and order, rising terrorism, falling growth rate and industrial production, encouraging market economy and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and to cap it all the falling rupee have erased the credibility of the government from the public mind.

Alas! The Government could gauge the seriousness of the situation in time! Instead of understanding the situation and initiating correctional measures, it started troubling its critics and even termed the figures of foreign rating agencies as false and fabricated. The daily falling value of rupee exposed the hollowness in the tall claims made by the government. The government was trying to placate the masses by MNREGA, Right to Education, Food Security Bill, etc. but to no avail. The masses believe firmly that the unholy alliance of the politicos-bureaucrats-industrialist-middlemen-journalists was responsible for the present sorry state of affairs in the country. This was the reason why the youth and masses were drawn towards the agitation for bringing back the black money stashed away in foreign banks, clean politics and Lokpal Bill by Anna Hazare and Swami Ramdev at Ramlila Grounds. The Grounds reminds one of the similar participation of masses at the meetings of JP during the 1977.

Today it is commonly believed that all was wrong in the country and that the democratic polity was responsible for this. But this is not true. This is the strength of democracy that forced the government to release Anna Hazare on August 16, 2011 within four hours of his arrest. Before this, the government that used lathis and other stern measures on June 4, 2011 at the dead of the night on sleeping, non-violent supporters of Baba Ramdev at Ramlila Maidan, had to face the music of the court.

It can be said that to a certain extent the alliance of vested interests in the corridors of power is responsible for the present denigration in the country, this is also equally true that because of some politicians going to the court the corrupt leaders involved in 2G or Coalgate scams had to spend time behind the bars. The Centre is experiencing difficult times following the Coalgate scam exposure. The government was put to shame in the public eyes because of the honest and upright officers like Durga Shakti Nagpal and Ashok Khemka.

The credit to bar convicted law makers from contesting elections goes to the judiciary only following which Laloo Yadav involved in fodder scam and Rashod Masood of Medical College admission scam had to relinquish their posts and spend the time behind the bars. A major section of the media can be said to be impartial even today and many a scams were brought forth by such activism of the honest mediapersons.

While there are people who nurse their vested interests and as such have no courage to stand erect, there is a class of people that is honest and dedicated and committed to the country and society. Today, it is most pertinent to rid the country of that unholy alliance that is troubling each and everyone in this country.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Like 1977, 2014 will be the voice of the people

—Narendra Modi

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi challenged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leaders to submit a performance report on its nine years of rule and hoped that the 2014 general elections, like in 1977, would reflect the voice of the people of India. “This government, which has downgraded the country, has to go. Let us affirm that this government has to go democratically. We should work for a progressive BJP government,” the Chief Minister of Gujarat said in his address to the Indian diaspora through a live video conference on September 21. “Like 1977, 2014 will be the voice of the people,” Modi said. “This election is not about any post, but to wipe the tears of the poor. It is not the farmers, the tribal, the marginalised,” he said.