YBReflections

Emergency 1975 – Looking back after 5 decades: Indian government under Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s Prime Ministership declared a national emergency on the mid night of 25 June 1975 under article 352 of the constitution. The reasons given were serious external and internal threats India was facing.  The emergency was declared in the backdrop of mounting political unrest and judiciary developments shaking the legitimacy of the ruling Congress leadership. All human rights guaranteed under the constitution of India were suspended and all opposition party leaders were arrested and thrown behind bars in a night to dawn operation. Censorship was forced on all the media and they were barred from telling the truth.  All this created a fear psychosis in the country and people were afraid of speaking against the government. It was again the RSS which was banned and many of its leaders were sent behind bars with no trial under MISA/DIR (Maintenance of Internal Security act/ Défense of India Rules). More than 100,000 political opponents, journalists and dissenters were imprisoned by Gandhi regime. During this time a mass campaign for vasectomy (Nasbandi) was spearheaded by her son Sanjay Gandhi. Thousands of unmarried youths were subjected to this torture and were sterilised forcibly. 

Why am I writing this: It was on this day exactly 50 years ago, I was arrested and sentenced to 50 days of imprisonment. My crime was offering satyagraha demanding withdrawal of emergency. I have tried to recollect what lead me to participate in this satyagraha led by Sri. Jayaprakash Narayan and under RSS mentorship. Many in my own family & friends circle and the new generation is unaware of excesses of emergency and there was a 2^nd Independence movement in 70s to liberate India from the iron clutches of the dictator prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. I am trying to recollect some events leading to imposition of emergency and my direct involvement against it and how it shaped me as an individual and a responsible citizen.

Recap of events leading to declaration of emergency: Mrs. Gandhi came to obtain near absolute control over the government and the Indian National Congress party between 1967 and 1971 with huge majority in Parliament. She concentrated the Central government power in prime minister’s secretariat rather than the cabinet. Her “Garibi Hatao” slogan caught the imagination of the nation and she was elected back to power with a massive mandate in 1971.

Almost every state in India was then ruled by Congress Party. The lawlessness and corruption were rampant all over. In 1974 the students of Bihar started a movement led by Sri. Jayaprakash Narayan a veteran socialist popularly known as JP. The movement itself was renamed as JP Movement. The movement was against the misrule and local corrupt government. This was preceded by student movement called NAV NIRMAN in Gujarat between 1973 and 1974 against the education minister leading to dismissal of the state government. Assassination attempt of some leaders and killing of Railway minister Lalit Narayan Mishra by a bomb indicated a growing law and order problem in the country. The railway employee’s union led by fire brand George Fernandes went on a nationwide strike which was brutally suppressed by her government. She arrested thousands of employees and drove their families from their quarters.

Around this time JP announced his decision to form “Lok Sangarsh Samiti” with Sri. Morarji Desai as its head and Sri. Nanaji Deshmukh as the secretary. The committee aimed at paralysing the government functioning – a new non-cooperation movement started taking shape.

Raj Narain who was defeated in 1971 parliamentary election by Indira Gandhi filed a petition on the grounds of election fraud and misuse of government machinery by Indira Gandhi in Allahabad high court. On 12^th June 1975 Justice Jagmohan Sinha of Allahabad High Court found prime minister guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election Null & Void and unseated her from seat in Lok Sabha and banned her from contesting any election for six years. She challenged the high court verdict in Supreme Court. Justice V S Krishna Iyer upheld the high court verdict on the 24^th June 1975 and suspended all the privileges extended to Mrs. Gandhi as MP but allowed her to continue as PM until the case is heard and disposed off completely. JP organised a massive rally in Delhi on the 25^th June 1975 and asked the police officers to reject immoral and unethical orders by the government. This was construed as a call for rebellion and requested fully compliant president Fakruddin Ali Ahmed to proclaim emergency. This was done at the mid night of 25^th June 1975 without even informing the cabinet. Within three hours electricity supply to all major newspapers were cut and opposition leaders arrested. MISA and DIR were given expanded mandate within five days of proclamation of emergency.

India is Indira – Sycophants galore: From 1969 onwards,she had outmanoeuvred all her rivals and split the party into Cong (O) and Cong(R). In Congress(R) the leaders quickly realised that their progress within ranks was solely dependent on their loyalty to her family and ostentatious display of sycophancy became a routine. After the 1971 war with Pakistan and liberation of Bangladesh by the Indian army this sycophancy reached its peak. The then speaker of the Lok Sabha Mr. Barua coined the slogan India is Indira. Indira is India. He went to the extent of saying “there is no India without Indira”. She awarded herself “Bharata Ratna”. Even the opposition leaders who frequently criticised her dictatorial tendencies called her as Durga. She was also referred to as empress of India by her chief economist.   

My activities in Mysore & Shivamogga during Emergency: When all this was unfolding, I was studying for my Engineering degree in SJCE Mysore. I was quite disturbed by the developments in the country. We also used to discuss these developments amongst close friends in college and were quite concerned about our own academic pursuit and future. One of my close friend Sr. Inasappa from Mandya district jokingly reacted to Barua’s statement “There is no India without Indira”. He said “there is no India without Mandya”. This had a profound effect on me and was convinced that the people of India were supreme. This was the beginning of my resolve to fight emergency. I was very much attracted to the call given by JP for Sampoorna Kranti and was quite happy to note my alma matter RSS totally supported the JP movement. I got quickly drawn into various underground activities being carried out by RSS against the imposition of emergency and the draconian rule unfurled by Mrs. Gandhi. RSS started publishing an underground paper “Kahale” to educate and reach out to the public against the excesses of the emergency. This was not an easy task as RSS activities were banned and a total censor of print media was in force. I was involved in collecting the Kahale some time hand written, some times cyclostyled or printed. These were the times when we hit the street, ring the “jagante” in the middle of night to wake up people in the neighbourhood to give small little speeches against emergency. This was carried out with a lot of risk as police were very vigilant and if caught one would be sure of arrest and torture. Aeroplane, Bellary Gundu were some of the popular tortures which left some of them disabled for life. The risk was worth it as the aim was to liberate the country from the fascist rule. I ended up failing in three subjects in 5^th semester of my engineering exams. The post exam vacation brought me back to Shivamogga my home town.

Konheri the hunchback Prophet: I must share this incident here. Konheri (as I recollect his name) lived on the college campus and was in charge of cleaning the campus and the hostel rooms. One fine morning he walked into my room for cleaning and was gazing at me for a few minutes and said – “I am surprised you are here in your room. You must be inside a Jail Cell”. He refused to give me any explanation but said it will be a matter of time before you are in jail. He had no clue of my activities. Least did I realise that his words were prophetic.

14 Jan 1976 – Day of my arrest: In end December 1975, I came to Shivamogga for my in between semester vacation. The RSS leadership directed me to get arrested on the 14^th Jan 1976 by offering satyagraha near Gopi Circle Shivamogga. By then thousands of RSS workers had filled the jails protesting emergency and the very act was to get the society to come out of the fear psychosis perpetrated by government. The 14^th January batch was supposed to be the last batch to offer satyagraha and go to Jail. On the morning of 14^thJanuary 1976 I was supposed to lead a team of 8 Satyagrahis. I came to know later that a much bigger team led by D K Sadashiva a BMS (Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh) Leader was to offer satyagraha at Shivappa Nayaka Circle at 9.00am and I was to lead a team at Gopi Circle at exactly 8.45am to divert the police attention and team led by Sadashiva would continue the protest for a long time at Shivappa nayaka circle. We were shouting slogans like “Revoke emergency”, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, and many against the government atrocities. We were arrested immediately and taken to Kote police station in Shivamogga. After reaching there we realised there were totally 45 satyagrahis arrested that day. Some of my close friends and RSS karyakartas Gopalakrishna Bhagawat, D K Sadashiva, D K Vishvanatha, Chi. Su. Krishnashetti, N R Prakasha (Aachi), Soraba Narayana, Halappa, Revana Siddappa, Jagadeesha, Suryanarayana (Suri), Mylari, Ranganatha, Satyasandha, Siddaramanna, Shankara, Jayarama, Narasimha Murthy were also arrested.

My mother’s reaction and Ellu Bella distribution in jail: Knowing fully well that I will be arrested and uncertain about the sentence I am going to get, I had packed my clothes in a back pack and kept it under the cot at home. No one at home had any inkling that I may be arrested that day. I had instructed couple of my close friends Chandrashekar Shastry and Guru Prakash to inform my mother once I am arrested. We were moved to the Shivamogga jail on the 15^th morning. It happened to be the Sankranti day. My mother came to jail with my younger sister and with tears asked me –“Why did not you tell me before? Do you think I would have opposed you? I would have supported it whole heartedly. I am pained you did not take me into confidence”.  I was moved by this gesture. I must say here that she herself had served a sentence during the freedom movement fighting the British under the leadership of K C Dasappa a congress leader from Mysore. Isn’t it a irony that her son had to fight the same congress government 30 years later for freedom from fascist rule?

My mother had carried a big box of Ellu-Bella a savoury distributed during Sankranti. The Shivamogga jail was over crowded with satyagrahis already. The Ellu Bella was distributed to all my fellow satyagrahis and got over in just a few minutes.  

My experiences in Shivamogga Police Station: Strangely the local police behaved very decently with us. We were surprised when the then superintendent of Police Sri. Krishnamoorthy and IPS officer visited us in the afternoon at the police station and enquired if we had breakfast and lunch. He directed the Station inspector to organise good food immediately. He asked each one of us to introduce ourselves and engaged us in a long conversation. We were quite surprised with his comments as he was leaving – He said “But for this uniform, I would have been with you”. At a time when excesses being committed all over the country and people being tortured by police for no reason, his reaction was a fresh breeze and was very encouraging and further resolved our determination to fight the emergency. He also instructed the Inspector that all satyagrahis can go home in the night and no restrictions placed on them. The inspector seemed worried as he had already reported to the court that 45 were arrested and he was concerned if some of the do not come back next day. The response from SP was so reassuring. He said they are all Swayam Sevaks of RSS. Each one of them will be back by 8.00am tomorrow. True to his words some of us who went home did return early in the morning and were taken to Shivamogga district jail.

Court proceedings: We were produced before the district magistrate on the 16^th as 14^th and 15^th were holidays. The charges against us were read out. We were booked for breaking the prohibitory orders that were issued under section 35 of the Karnataka Police act. The judge wanted to know why we had assembled and what we were up to. Some of us explained our stand against emergency and informed him that we were raising slogans when we were arrested. He wanted to know what slogans we were shouting. 45 Voices shouted “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Revoke Emergency” in the crowded court hall. The judge immediately sentenced us to 50 days of imprisonment and directed that we be treated as political detainees. Even the judges were afraid of giving sensible judgement.

Transfer to Bellary Central Jail: The town of Shivamogga was in the forefront of the JP movement. If I recall correctly nearly 1100 satyagrahis were arrested and put behind bars from the district alone. The district jail was overflowing. It was decided by the jail authorities all the 45 of  us would be transferred to Bellary central Jail and on the 19^th Jan the government bus arrived to take us to Bellary. The travel itself was adventurous as it gave an opportunity to shout anti emergency slogans and deliver speeches wherever the bus stopped. We were accompanied by two policemen who were helpless spectators. We stopped for coffee and lunch breaks which gave us opportunity to climb on to the bus top and start delivering speeches at crowded bus stands. The local police could not do a thing as we were already government guests 

Bellary Central Jail – Epitome of corruption: We were in for a shock that night when we were served dinner in our barracks. The food was filthy and had lot of dead worms in it. We refused to eat it offered upavaasa(fasting) Satyagraha that night.  Bellary central jail was also overflowing with three thousand political detainees like us and we started wondering how the others had managed to eat it. We were not able to interact with them until next morning. On the 20^th morning we learnt that the protest was on but no one was willing to listen. It was then we decided and demanded that we be provided with the jail manual to know our rights. We were provided with the manual with great reluctance. We realised that it was a big racket and jail authorities were making money by selling food grains. Detainees were also refrained from using library or even from sports while the crime convict who numbered another 1500-2000 enjoyed all benefits.

We demanded that we be provided with all ration including food grains, vegetables, milk etc as per manual and provide orderlies so that we cook our own food. We also demanded access to library and sporting equipment and access to sporting arena. This infuriated the authorities and were upset that their nefarious activities were being exposed. They refused to provide the ration and allow us to do our own cooking but acceded to our demand of access to library and sports arena. However, every day there would be some skirmishes with authorities and the political detainees were singled out and beaten up.

A city in itself: The Bellary central jail is a city in itself. It is like a large fort. In an isolated corner secluded from the rest they have cells for solitary confinement. This is where the MISA and DIR detainees were housed. Lifers and most dangerous criminals were also housed here. There movements inside the jail were also confined. Jail had large barracks. Each of these barracks could accommodate 40 detainees with one toilet with no door in one corner. All the forty had to use this in the night. There were forty raised concrete platforms which served as the cot. We were provided with on mat, a bedsheet, an aluminium plate and a vessel for keeping water.   There was a library which could accommodate about 25-30 persons at time. Some books, magazines and daily newspapers were made available. There was a large kitchen which would cater to all the inmates whether a criminal or political detainee. The food was cooked by the criminals and it was considered as part of the punishment to them. Inside the jail there was a saw mill, carpentry and smithy section, pottery section and many other activities for the criminals who would also get wages for their work contribution. The wage money accrued during their sentence time in the jail was given to them at the time of release. There were playgrounds for playing basketball, volley ball, shuttle badminton and Kho-Kho. The entire jail complex had a lot of neem, Pongamia and other trees providing a lot of shade.

As political detainees our movements inside were restricted. We would be locked up by 6.00pm and allowed outside the barracks by 7.00am next day. The breakfast would normally be served in the barracks by 9.00am. Lunch by 1.00pm. The dinner would be served at 8.00pm in the barrack.

Jan 26, 1976 – A war like situation: We continued with our dialogue with the jail authorities on providing the ration as per jail manual and a separate kitchen and orderly help for doing our own cooking. This was not palatable to them. They would set up criminal detainees against us and some fight was ensured several times a day between 20-25^th Jan 1975 with us. On the 26^th Morning we had just then finished our breakfast inside our barracks and heard a lot of commotion outside. When we went out, the entire jail premises had turned into a battle field. The hardcore convicts were out with iron bars and reapers from the carpentry section attacking the satyagrahis. By then several MISA/DIR detainees had been attacked and some of them had broken arms, legs and one or two had sever head injuries. While all this was going on there was one Gandhian shouting Peace, Ahimsa and pleading with criminals not to attack. He himself was attacked. That was a very testing time. While we all believed in Non-Violence, the situation had gone out of control. We had no option but to grab whatever we could lay our hands as weapon and also broke some tree branches and hit back at the criminals aided and instigated by jail authorities. There was pitched battle for nearly two hours. All the commotion inside was heard by citizens of Bellary and several of them had gathered on top of a hill overseeing the jail. The local police arrived and controlled the situation. All the criminals unleashed on the satyagrahis were locked up and we were driven back into our barracks and locked up. Several of the satyagrahis and the criminals were hospitalised for sever injuries. In case of couple of them it was even life threatening.

All the three thousand   satyagrahis inside the jail declared indefinite fast until our demands are met. Several police officers, local politicians kept visiting us and requesting us to withdraw the fast. 

Jan 28, 1976 – Day of settlement: The state Director General of Police, Bangalore arrived on the 28^th and had series of meetings with us. He did apologise for what had happened, some of the Chief jail superintendent was suspended and agreed to all our demands. The criminal convicts were also cautioned. We were provided with 4 orderlies to help us in the kitchen.

My experience in Jail Kitchen: We started getting ration as per the jail manual. On day one we realised that the grains and vegetables supplied were unfit for human consumption. We rejected it asked for fresh stocks. From then on, we would do quality check and accept the provisions. The challenge was to now cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for three thousand inmates. We formed a team of 24 volunteers with Sri. Venkataramana a Satyagrahi as the head cook. I was part of the team. We would distribute the work amongst us. Breakfast was simple and same almost every day. We would cook Panchanan with rice and dal and vegetables (similar to Pongal) with tamarind sauce. Lunch and dinner always were three Chapatis per person, Rice & Sambar and a glass of buttermilk. We would alternate rice and sambar with Bisibelebath (Rice and lentils cooked together with vegetables). I can never forget the experience of making 9000 Chapatis in the afternoon and again in the evening. A small team would cut vegetables and cook the rice/sambar or Bisibelebath and almost 15-16 of us were involved preparing the dough, flatten it with rolling pins and panning it. The pan itself was 6ft*12ft long. The two orderlies would do bake the chapatis. After cooling we would make a bundle of 120 Chapatis, two buckets of cooked rice and a bucket of buttermilk would be delivered to each barrack during lunch and dinner time which would serve 40 inmates.

2nd OTC – RSS training camp: As an active RSS karyakarta, I had completed my OTC (Officers training camp) in Hassan in 1971. The activities in Bellary Jail were almost like the 2^nd OTC for me. The daily routine would be

5.00 -6.00am Freshen up and morning prayers

6.00-7.00am Yogasana & Meditation

7.00 -8.30am Morning chores & breakfast

8.30-9.30am Morning Shaka- Games/Prayer

9.30-11.00am Library, Games and free time

11.00am-12.00noon -Lectures by seniors on topics such as science, technology, culture, Nationalism, sports etc

12.00-1.00pm – Group discussions on different topics

1.00-3.00pm Lunch & rest

3.00-4.00pm Story time – Barrack wise or in groups under a large tree

4.00-6.00PM free time – Library/Games

6.00-7.00pm Back in barracks – evening prayers

7.00-8.00pm Singing patriotic songs and lectures

8.00-9.00pm Dinner

9.00-10.00pm Personal time

10.00pm lights off

In addition to these routines, I also had additional kitchen task. So, I had a lot of flexibility and even could stay outside the barrack when others were locked up.

Seniors under MISA in Bellary Central Jail: There were many RSS, Bharatiya Janasangh, Socialists, Gandhians and other activists who were imprisoned under MISA/DIR without trial. I can recollect a few names here. Dr. Nagappa Alva a Gandhian and a congressman, Sri. Arakali Narayan of RSS, Sri. Rama Jois who became the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court, Kuduvalli Manjunath a avid photographer, Ayanur Manjunath later became an MLA and MP, Mallikarjuna a RSS activist from Shivamogga. Lawrence Fernandes (Brother of George Fernandes), Snehalatha Reddy a social activist had their stints at Bellary Central Jail.

An RSS Pracharak (a full-time activist, had served Indian Airforce also) by the name Sri. Dayanath Kotian was also an inmate but was sentenced under police petty case and was treated as an ordinary convict. He had to wear the jail uniform and was forced work in the jail as a convict. We coopted him as the orderly and relieved him from the convict mundane activities. I happened to meet him at Mysore after his release and started talking to him. He refused to talk to me and he said he was a different person. I soon came to know he was still active but underground and working against the emergency.

Reactions from fellow students and teaching staff at SJCE: While in the jail each one of us were given two post cards. I wrote one letter home another to my classmate and friend B S Kumar. The post card had central jail seal and my Kaidi number 297 printed on it. One of my professors, Sri Bhaskar Murthy must have glanced at the letter and had created sensation by announcing in classrooms that I am serving a sentence in Pune Yera Wada jail. After completing my sentence and returned to the college, I had a great reception by my friends. The then principal Prof. M H Dhananjaya ushered me into his cabin, held my hand and cried. His words keep ringing in my ears even today “Ramakrishna, I am so proud of you that you were imprisoned for a national cause. Do not worry about all the classes you have missed and the attendance. I am instructing all lecturers to hold special class for you on the lessons you have missed and ensure full attendance. This further encouraged me to continue my activities.

SDF – Students for Democracy – Manasa Gangotri, Mysore: After my release from jail, I continued my anti emergency activities. Along with one Mr. Shroff (an activist and blind by birth) and Sri. Dayanath Kotian founded SFD (Students for democracy) and conducted weekly meetings to sensitise the youth on the excesses of emergency and involve them in the activism.

1977 Parliamentary Elections: Many of the SFD friends joined hands during the parliamentary elections that were declared after the withdrawal of emergency.  Four political parties, Bharatiya Janasangh, Socialist party, Congress (O) and Bharatiya Lok dal. RSS requested me to campaign in Tumkur constituency for Sri. Mallikarjunaiah and sent team of karyakartas to Tumkur. He lost that election but later on won from Tumkur to become Dy. Speaker of Lok Sabha. The 1977 parliamentary election experiences were unique and Janata Party came to power defeating the Congress led by Mrs. Gandhi. It was great misfortune that they started fighting amongst themselves and a great National experiment was defeated.

Looking back: Looking back after 50 years, I have enjoyed the journey and feel no remorse. I have been fortunate to get plenty of opportunities to work for the country as part of the government committees and through voluntary activism. I look forward to sharing some in future. We see the dictatorial tendencies have become rampant and no matter where you live, our freedom seems to be at peril. My only request to the new generation is to remain vigilant and be ready for sacrifices if required.

JAI HIND