The contemporary relevance of Internal Emergency 1975-77

Even as we hear the roar of the bulldozers as they became a part of the State policy of punitive demolitions, Justice H.R. Khanna's courage speaks eloquently and insistently as we ask ourselves whether our time will find its own Justice Khanna.

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ON June 25, we mark the 47th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The events of the emergency have long since faded into history, but there are uncanny resonances with the contemporary context.

The midnight knock on the door and the experience of arrest was a defining feature of the emergency. The Justice J.C. Shah Commission of Inquiry Report documents that the Maintenance of Internal Security Act ('MISA') was the blunt instrument used by the regime to arrest politicians, student leaders, civil society activists, trade unionists and so called 'anti-social elements'.

When MISA was passed by Indira Gandhi in 1971, those who opposed it in Parliament included Jan Sangh stalwarts, Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani. Vajpayee said that, "this is the beginning of a police state and a blot on democracy" and "the first step towards dictatorship". Advani presciently noted that "this preventive detention law or MISA will be used against Shri Morarjee Desai, Shri Shyam Dhar Mishra and Shri Gurupadswamy."