Kerala Governor Arlekar terms Emergency period as 'dark era'

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 25 (PTI) Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday termed the Emergency period a "dark era" which nobody thought would happen in "the life of Bharat Mata".

He was speaking at an event held at the Kerala University here by a pro-right wing outfit, Padmanabha Seva Samithi, on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency.

The Governor said the function was not a celebration, but it was an event to remember "what happened 50 years ago".

"It was a period of black era. It was a very big blow to the democracy of this country. It was a black dark spot on our age old democracy," he said.

He alleged that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency to remain in power.

"She knew what needed to be done to remain in power till her last breath. When the atmosphere in the country began to turn against her, she knew what had to be done and so she imposed an era called Emergency," he contended.

Arlekar said that Indira Gandhi was disqualified as an MP by the Allahabad High Court for corruption in June 1975 and claimed that she declared the Emergency to remain in power.

He further claimed that around 80,000 RSS and Jan Sangh activists were jailed during that time.

The Governor said that he, himself, and his father were also jailed during that time in Goa.

"Those days were horrifying and brutal," he said, adding that the Emergency has given the lesson -- "say whatever you have to say and say it loudly".

Arlekar contended that as a result of her actions, the people voted against Indira Gandhi in 1977.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan claimed that the country is going through an undeclared Emergency as the "Sangh Parivar government" is trying to do away with the Constitution.

Vijayan made the allegation in a Facebook post, in which he described the Emergency declared by the then-Indira Gandhi government in 1975 as "the darkest chapter in the history of Indian democracy." The CM said that the declaration of Emergency on June 25, 1975, was not a sudden or unexpected event but the "brutal culmination of years of authoritarian tendencies and the erosion of civil liberties in India." Vijayan also said that the 50th anniversary of the Emergency serves as a reminder of the "horror" of the current political situation in the country.

"The country is currently going through an undeclared Emergency. If Indira Gandhi abused the Constitution, then today the Sangh Parivar government is trying to do away with it," he alleged in the post, which also carried a link to an article on the Emergency published in the CPI(M) mouthpiece, Deshabhimani.

Vijayan claimed that the Emergency is not merely a lesson in history for those who lived through it but remains a "burning memory of state terror." He stressed that the memories of the Emergency period must be preserved as a source of inspiration for future struggles and passed on to the next generations.

During the Emergency, Vijayan, a senior CPI(M) leader, was imprisoned for 18 months for organising "underground political activities" in Kerala. He also faced alleged police torture while in custody.

BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar also termed the Emergency a "dark era." He alleged that Congress has, since then, continued to "undermine" the constitutional rights of the people to protect the power of its dynasty.

"The Emergency was a dark era in which the Congress trampled on fundamental rights and constitutional values. Even as we mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, the Congress continues to do the same, undermining the constitutional rights of the people to protect the power of its dynasty," he said in a Facebook post.

Chandrasekhar further alleged that the UPA government "trampled upon the rights of citizens, used Section 66A of the Information Technology Act to intimidate people, and sent journalists to jail." He claimed that he was instrumental in getting the controversial provision repealed.

The Congress, Chandrasekhar alleged, is now tying up with the "anti-constitutional and anti-democratic Jamaat-e-Islami" to continue its "opportunistic and corrupt politics", putting the interests of its dynasty above those of the people.

He also remarked that it was fitting that the year-long exhibition marking 50 years of the Emergency, organised by the Union Ministry of Culture, is being held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts "named after the same dynast leader who declared the Emergency to protect her power and dynasty," he alleged. PTI HMP HMP KH