Let us be happy that the PM and HM, mimicked by all the BJP politicians, are saying that they are flag bearers of democracy and our Constitution. We must hold them to it. That is why I am attempting to speak up. Our nation has seen many terribly dark days right from partition, and since I also experienced Indira Gandhi’s Emergency live, there is no doubt that it was morally, legally and ethically absolutely wrong! And we must learn lessons from it.
However, I do not agree with the NSUI students who reportedly gheraoed the Director of Education for wanting to politicise it, making schools a battleground for ideology, and the BJP wanting to declare the day as “Samvidhan Hatao” day! Anyone judging by going back half a century, ignoring the problems and politics at that time, is immature. Whilst not condoning it, I may state that the common man experienced, for the first time after Independence, discipline.
All trains and buses ran on time, private and government administration was super-efficient, corruption for him dramatically ceased, and all essential items were available at fair prices! But Indira Gandhi herself was forced to apologise and lift the Emergency. This proves the strength of our constitutional democracy and that man does not live by bread alone.
