Authoritarianism and dynastic rule are no less dangerous (than Emergency), senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani said here on Sunday.
He was releasing a book, Shah Commission Report: lost and regained , authored by veteran parliamentarian Era. Sezhiyan. The function was organised by the Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs.
Mr. Advani, who was incarcerated for 19 months during the Emergency, which was probed by the Shah Commission, commended Mr. Sezhiyan for having rendered a “signal service to history, democracy and the country” by writing this book.
He pointed out that India, which was looked down upon about 25 years ago in the international arena, was now able to command respect not only because it was an emerging economic power but also owing to democracy. However, during the Emergency of 1975, “some people consciously brought about almost a total extinction and total annihilation of democracy.” They amended the Constitution to incorporate the elements of Emergency.
Congress mouthpiece National Herald went to the extent of campaigning that India did not require A multi-party democracy but only a “one-party democracy,” as in Tanzania. The thinking of the rulers then was India did not need democracy but only “roti.” “Even totalitarian rule was okay.”
It was the unity of the political parties and also the awakening of the people under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan that ended this “traumatic” period. The perpetrator of the Emergency, the Congress, could not get a single Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar [in the 1977 elections] and could get one each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. “That mood has to be recreated today.”
Having a dig at the Communist parties vis-à-vis democracy, he said: “they used to mock at me, saying the world, including India, had accepted Marxism. But where are they now? Just in Cuba, Kolkata and Kerala?”
Mr. Advani reiterated that India was respected all over because of its commitment to democracy.
Mr. Sezhiyan pointed out that lakhs of people suffered because of the draconian laws during the Emergency. He chose to author the current book because he was told that not a single copy was available with the government libraries. “If a country does not protect its history, it cannot make history,” he noted.
Adverting to the current scenario, he deemed its worst feature to be the “decline in political morality.” “When the Bofors scandal, in which only Rs. 65 crore was involved, could defeat Rajiv Gandhi at the hustings, what is going to happen now,” he asked, alluding to the 2G spectrum scam.
‘Cho' Ramaswamy, Editor of Thuglaq , described Mr. Sezhiyan as a man of “sacrifice, suffering and selflessness.”
He refused to find fault with the laws of the land for the current murky scenario. The problem was with the people implementing the laws.” We did not see this type of dishonesty even during the Emergency.”
“People have been corrupted and I wonder whether we have lost the capability to get angry [against the misdeeds of the political class]?”
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's instructions were flouted with impunity by a Minister under him “do we need such a leadership?” he said.
B.S. Raghavan, trustee of the Centre, called for eternal vigilance to save institutions of democracy, which suffered “subversion, manipulation and machination” during the Emergency.
The Constitution should be amended not to allow the Emergency make a re-entry, he noted.
G. Narayanaswamy, president of the centre, also spoke.
