‘Anti-Emergency Fighters Collect’, which met at Kochi to observe the 49th anniversary of fascist PM Indira Gandhi’s Declaration of Emergency, demanded the declaration of the anti-Emergency fight as the Second Freedom Struggle and the inclusion of the history of Emergency (1975 – 1977) and the fight against it in the academic curriculum and syllabus.
Adv K Ramkumar referred to the I.N.D.I Alliance MPs who carried the texts of the Constitution to the Parliament the other day. He ridiculed them, pointing out that the Congress regime of Indira Gandhi had sabotaged the Constitution during the days of Emergency. A senior lawyer in the Kerala High Court inaugurated the seminar on “Emergency, Constitution, Democracy and Judiciary”. Adv Ramkumar said that our Constitution is so liberal that even those who engineered the partition of the country on the basis of religion and even that particular religion enjoy protection and patronage under this Constitution. He said the craze for power led Congress to the declaration of Emergency.
Adv Ramkumar, who was in police custody for more than a week during the Emergency, said that our Constitution is great and gives equality to all. It is such a great Constitution that Congress defiled it 49 years before. Congress does not have a commitment to the nation. The ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ fighters made many sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country. It shall not be forgotten.
BJP spokesman Sandeep Vachaspati said that the fighters of the ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ suffered inhuman police torture and imprisonment due to the anti-democratic policies of Indira Gandhi and her people. Lakhs of known and unknown ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ fighters suffered brutalities due to the Congress’s fascism.
P Sundaran, the then district organising secretary of Bharatiya Jan Sangh who was jailed twice during the Emergency, said that the number of ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ fighters ‘comes down day by day’. The apt tribute to the fighters is to declare the struggle as the ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ and the inclusion of the history of Emergency and the fights against it in the academic syllabus. He said that several police officers who tortured and led the torture against the anti-Emergency fighters joined the Sangh-inspired organisations later, and some of them addressed RSS programmes.
R Mohanan, general secretary of the Emergency Victims Association, who underwent police torture and imprisonment during the Emergency, told about the pathetic life of hundreds of fighters. Most of them suffer serious physical problems due to the brutal police torture. Sangh makes arrangements for the medical treatment of some of them. He explained how the Association extends the hand of succour to them with the help of the NGOs and some philanthropists. He echoed the demand put forward by Adv K Ramkumar for the declaration of the anti-Emergency struggle as the Second Freedom Struggle and the inclusion of the same in the academic syllabus.
Swati Krishna, a young lawyer and former ABVP worker, explained the legal aspects of Emergency and its declaration and the way the laws and rules were misused and twisted.
E N Nandakumar, who suffered inhuman torture during the anti-Emergency struggle, explained the situations which led to the declaration of Emergency.
T Satisan, Organiser reporter and prominent underground worker during Emergency and ban on Sangh, who underwent brutal torture, told about underground publications Sangh took up, in the name of Lok Sangharsh Samiti, to impart the right news to the people when the country was undergoing fascist sort of press censorship.
Hundreds of anti-Emergency fighters weathered their poor health and heavy monsoon rains to attend the programme. They enjoyed the ‘reunion’ of the young men of 1975-77.
In Kerala, more than 5000 people, 99.50 per cent of them RSS workers, had courted arrest as part of the nationwide satyagraha against Emergency. The average age of the satyagrahis was 21. They participated in the satyagraha after taking an oath before the pictures of Dr K.B. Hedgewar, Guruji Golwalkar and the luminous traditional lamp.
