It is unlikely that Emergency will return, but eternal vigilance is the price for freedom | The Indian Express

It is unlikely that Emergency will return, but eternal vigilance is the price for freedom | The Indian Express

Written by Coomi Kapoor |Updated: June 26, 2019 6:44:21 am

Coomi Kapoor has been a journalist for the last four decades. Her forte has been political reporting. She has witnessed the shifting power equations in the capital -- from Indira Gandhi’s regime to the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party. She is presently contributing editor to The Indian Express. Earlier, she worked for the newspaper as chief reporter, special correspondent and editor, Delhi. Coomi has worked in several publications in different capacities. She was principal correspondent, India Today, editor news, Sunday Mail, bureau chief, Indian Post and political editor, Illustrated Weekly. She has been writing a political diary in a lighter vein since 1985 and her syndicated column was carried by many newspapers. She was also stringer for The Times, London, and columnist for The Star, Malaysia.

It is unlikely that Emergency will return, but eternal vigilance is the price for freedom

Authoritarianism does not necessarily come about like Indira Gandhi’s Emergency in one fell swoop. Dictatorships sometimes creep in slowly and insidiously without any official declaration. The health of a democracy is judged by several parameters.

Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, considered the fountainhead of humanism, liberalism, tolerance and democratic traditions, ignored all the principles which her father held dear.

Forty-four years ago, Indira Gandhi introduced an internal Emergency in India. In establishing her authoritarian regime, she used sledgehammer tactics, devoid of any finesse or pretensions of keeping up a democratic façade. She was guided by her spoilt and willful son, Sanjay, who in turn, was advised by men such as Bansi Lal, R K Dhawan and V C Shukla, who were at heart bullies and believed that everyone should do their bidding and there was no room for such high-minded principles as respecting dissent, the rule of law and the freedom of thought and expression. Bansi Lal as Chief Minister of Haryana had, in fact, set the blueprint for an unofficial emergency in his own state prior to June 26, 1975. He ruled with despotic ruthlessness. When the Emergency plans were being drawn up in the countdown to June 26, Bansi Lal had famously advised Mrs Gandhi to send all the troublesome Opposition leaders to his jails and he would know how to set them straight.