Reports: Emergency Revisited
Akhil Bharatiya Loktantra Senani Parishad has organised a panel discussion to discuss “Emergency in Context of Politics” on completing 39 years post Emergency in the Constitution Club of India on June 26.
The Panel was held by Dr Subramaniam Swamy, Former Union Minister with Shri Ram Bahadur Rai, Editor-Yathavat; Shri Raj Kumar Bhatia, Former National President-Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP); Shri Laxminarayan Bhala, Conserver- Hindustan Samachar and Shri Rajendra Agarwal, MP-Lok Sabha.
While speaking on the occasion Dr Subramaniam Swamy said, “We are thankful to those who fought and were imprisoned during the Emergency. I will request the Central Government to provide them all the special status of being revolutionaries and freedom fighters.”
Shri Bhalaji added that, “No young generation will get to know about the revolutionaries of Emergency. It should be included in the curriculum of the schools so that future generation will also have knowledge about them and Emergency.”
Many speakers marked their words in the function and Lalit Batra, Youngest Prisoner at the age of 13 during Emergency said, “We have got Independence twice, firstly in 1947 and then post Emergency in 1955-57. I felt thankful to be a part of that movement which gave us ‘Democratic Independence’.”
 The Shah Commission Report is a meticulous analysis made all the more effective because, without any flourishes of language, it relates, incident after incident of abuse of power during the emergency. Unfortunately, it disappeared from Government publication sales depots under a later Government.
One wishes that the Government of India could be bound by the same obligation as in England to supply a copy of the report of every Commission when requested to do so by a citizen.”A precious historical and political document — once buried, now got resurrected.
The book portrays Morarji Desai and Dr Subramanian Swamy in the wake of the Indira Gandhi's shameful draconian Emergency. The saga of how Dr Swamy appeared in the Parliament defying the arrest warrant of Indira Gandhi has to be documented separately. It took the patriotism of such leaders under JP's guidance to defy the rotten chamchagiri documented in Shah Commission Report and achieve Swarajyam Kraanti led and exemplified by NaMo assuming Prime Ministership in 2014. This golden narrative of Bharatiya history also has to be documented separately.
The report is in print now and should be translated in to all Indian languages.
Introduction by Shri L K Advani
This new book has been compiled and edited by an old friend and Parliamentary colleague of Shri Advani, Era Sezhiyan. Born in 1923, Sezhiyan became an ardent follower and highly trusted assistant of CN Annadurai, founder of the DMK. He was in Parliament from 1962 to 1984. After the 1977 elections, he was a Founder-Member of the Janata Party and served in its National Working Committee and Parliamentary Board. This fresh compilation, re-editing and republication makes the book Sezhiyan’s signal service to history. His preface and introduction is a startling revelation as to what actually provoked him to go in for this sort of private republication of an official document.
Sezhiyan said, “When I wanted in the middle of September 2010 some background material about the declaration of June 1975 Emergency, I was astounded by the positive statements in some websites about the disappearance of the Shah Commission Report with assertive conclusion that ‘not a single copy of the Report exists in India’.”
“It is part of the political history of India that in the 1977 General Election to Lok Sabha, Janata Party formed and inspired by Jaiprakash Narayan dealt a devastating defeat to Indira Gandhi and her Party. The Janata Government appointed a Commission of Inquiry with former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice J.C. Shah, as its Chairman, to investigate the misuse and abuse, excesses and malpractices, committed by the Government of the 1975-77 Emergency periods. The Shah Commission submitted its third and Final Report on August 6, 1978. For taking action on the findings of the Shah Commission, the Morarji Desai Government appointed a Committee with LP Singh as Chairman and BS Raghavan as Secretary.”
—Bureau Report |
