Our nation today is in a state of undeclared Emergency under a regime that is intolerant to any critics and criticism. In any democracy, supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly, where the rule of law and freedom of speech is paramount. It is very worrying that in our once peaceful and tolerant nation, both have been under constant attack under this BJP government.
Memories linger of that 1975 Emergency under the Congress with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the helm. I recollect that as a 15-year old student I barged into a Congress meeting which was being held at Club Nacional in Panaji. Without any resistance they allowed me to speak and in those seven minutes blasted the Congress for imposing that State of Emergency. The audience listened silently without any interruption. Imagine today raising one’s voice at a BJP meeting, the karyakartas would create a ruckus pushing the voice of dissent to the wall and the witch hunt for daring to speak constructively for the common good would continue for a long time.
