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Mar 1, 20235 min read

Emergency: Hope or Nope

SHREYA (2nd Year; Jesus And Mary College, University of Delhi)

“The National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, supported the Emergency throughout, and cautiously removed the quote ‘Freedom is in peril, defend it with all your might’ from its masthead.”

A Nightmarish Tyranny, to be called so. Different psychological effects were had on persons. The people of India were stripped of their fundamental liberties and faced Nazism like headon. The woman who once said that the ability to question is the foundation of human development has muzzled the right to question the mass media, a crucial institution in the democratic process, by the imposition of censorship. An authoritarian government develops as a result of both the psychological requirements of the ruled as well as the psychological demands of the ruler. The gap between expectations and achievements widens, insecurity brought on by economic or political factors haunts people, and democratic forces fail to channel the ensuing frustration, cynicism, and impatience of the people. Chauvinistic fervour atomizes group and individual identities, and a search for a ‘strong leader’ ensues.

When democratic institutions fail to adequately represent and express the people’s want for power—one of the fundamental and legitimate human urges—their collective urge becomes associated with the ruler’s absolute power.

It was reported that Indira Gandhi reportedly remarked she wanted to be remembered for having a strong personality, just way Napoleon and Hitler are today. This demonstrates her desire to project an authoritative personality. According to a quote from “Black Wednesday,” by Prolima Kalhan, where Indira Gandhi acknowledged that her upbringing was unusual, marked by loneliness and uncertainty. In a letter to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit dated June 2, 1934, her father, pandit Nehru, further stated that she was self-centered and barely gave thought to others, expecting everyone to cater to her comforts. . She emphasised that in order to get everything back in order, it was necessary to uphold “a tight discipline.” Mrs. Indira Gandhi emphasised that “now is the time for unity and discipline” in her text, My Truth. I have complete faith that things will get better every day and that the people in our cities and villages will back us wholeheartedly in our endeavour so that the nation will be strengthened. In ‘The Emergency: A Personal History’ by Coomi Kapoor, it is stated that Indira Gandhi suffered from a deep sense of insecurity. In sharp contrast to her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, she saw politics as primarily a struggle for power that had nothing to do with ideals or ideology.”

UNRAVELING THE MINDS OF THAT TIME In the book Indira Gandhi, the “Emergency,” and Indian Democracy by P.N. Dhar, the sections pertaining to the Emergency reflect various aspects of the Emergency, such as the isolation of a powerful woman in a male-dominated field, his attempts to broker a truce between Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan, the various moods he finds her in and her working style, and the “discrepancy between her private feelings and her public reaction” to Sanjay Gandhi’s doings.

Nayar was a journalist working for The Indian Express when the Emergency was proclaimed, and he spent around seven weeks behind bars. In the prologue to the book, he writes, “For a newsman, nothing may be more irritating than to obtain news that he knows cannot be printed.” But he persisted, fully aware that there was a book here just waiting to be written. Under the intense state pressure, many newspapers felt compelled to follow suit. Publications that rapidly aligned themselves with the administration include The Times of India and The Hindu, to name just a couple. Since these journals mainly (or primarily) reported official news, they subsequently evolved into quasi-propaganda tools.

The extensive use of telephone tapping which guarented “sincerity” and “loyalty,” is widely documented. It used the surveillance approach to monitor all the political leaders’ and the five government officials’ activities. The officials’ every move was being watched. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was well informed. She was fully aware of who had disparaged her and who had become her adversaries. It was made straightforward in the moment to obey the Prime Minister’s orders and those of her close men. The civil servants allegedly behaved fearfully. With its back broken, the government servant became docile and submissive.

Thousands of government employees were retired under the pretence of getting rid of ineffective and corrupt authorities. Furthermore, because the government servants were no longer able to make their own decisions, the conclusion was not as deserving. To develop and carry out policies, they had to rely on higher ranking officials. It has been noted that greater jobs and favours were only available to individuals who had a personal connection to Mrs. Indira Gandhi. O.M. Mehta, for instance, had a lot of privileges. He was regarded as Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s devoted minister in the then-Home Ministry.

Every significant office was targeted to place a trustworthy person—or, to be more precise, a spy—there. That is how the non-conforming Chief Ministers were overthrown, and as a result, a small group of persons with power and influence chose to use the congress organisation as their handmaiden. Moreover, government employees began showing up for work on time and taking less breaks. It demonstrates the element of timeliness in government officials’ administration.

Regarding the sterilization program in 1976, men in India underwent a profound behavioural change. Some people were sleeping outside in the open instead of in their mattresses at home, and others were skipping important celebrations and public events. People were looking for alternate transportation options who had previously boarded trains without purchasing a ticket. They were all attempting to stay away from officials. Inspectors on trains were suddenly fining ticketless passengers heavily, but they would waive the fee for price dodgers who consented to be sterilised. India’s sterilisation programs for both men and women have been a part of global initiatives to manage the country’s population; long after India gained independence, these programs were and still are based on imperialist ideals and long-held Western perceptions of Indian masculinity and womanhood.

Nonetheless, the Films Division compiled a list of propaganda films that glorified or supported Indira Gandhi, her leadership, and her 20-point agenda. The sole TV network in India at the time, Doordarshan, broadcast these films directly into every home. Mrs. Indira Gandhi seems committed to stopping this threat of economic crimes. To put a halt to these unlawful acts, she established a comprehensive surveillance network. The progress and economic development of the nation were severely hampered by these economic offences. The government officials underwent intensive surveillance to look for economic offences. Only during emergencies were additional employees stationed in vulnerable regions to monitor such unlawful acts.

The 1975–1977 Indian emergency saw interesting, synergistic impacts of “sovereign authority” and “power of discipline.” In order to analyze the possibilities of reflecting on the tactics, methods, or processes to govern the behaviour and thinking of individuals during an emergency in a democracy, the Foucauldian concept of “power of discipline” offers a new understanding. Some claim that there were fewer crimes and that the violent offenders became more fearful. Nonetheless, this discipline was criticized for failing to eliminate the corruption threat. Going back to what had occurred, it serves as a landmark for one’s political education: a time that significantly influenced not only politics but also a person’s personal and professional decisions.

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