Emergency | Indira Gandhi put many of us behind bars, but she never abused us: Lalu

Reminiscing what they went through during the dark days of Emergency, former Bihar Chief Minister and senior RJD leader Lalu Prasad stated that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had resorted to constitutional provisions to declare Emergency and put many of the leaders behind bars, but she never abused them.

“Neither she nor her ministers called us anti-national or unpatriotic. She never enabled vandals to defile the memory of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar — the architect of our Constitution. She also did not associate with those who endorse lynch mobs to kill and maim minorities and Dalits in the name of religion and caste. Cattle traders were not persecuted and killed on suspicion of possessing beef,” wrote Lalu in The Indian Express on Thursday.

Deflecting attention 

“After being re-elected as Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla said – Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsed his statement – that June 25 should be treated as a “black day” as the anniversary of the imposition of Emergency. The duo is trying to use the House to deflect the attention of the people from the monumental failures in governance and in upholding the Constitution,” he wrote.

The former Bihar chief minister said Modi and his BJP-RSS friends are “enlightening” the next generation about a period in which they played a dubious role. “I was the convener of the steering committee that Jayaprakash Narayan — the greatest people’s leader after Mahatma Gandhi — had constituted to carry forward the movement against the excesses of Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. I was in jail under the Maintenance of Security Act (MISA) for over 15 months. My colleagues and I did not know many of the BJP ministers speaking about the Emergency today. We hadn’t heard of Modi, JP Nadda and some of the PM’s other ministerial colleagues who today lecture us on the value of freedom,” he added.

'JP never liked RSS leaders'

Lalu further wrote, “JP never liked the Sangh Parivar leaders and their dual roles. He asked them to disassociate themselves from the RSS to join the Janata Party based on his philosophy of socialism, equality and justice. Sangh leaders never abided by JP. They used the movement to gain recognition in society and continued with their communal ways.”

According to him, veteran socialist leader Shivanand Tiwary recalled how the then RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras, arrested under MISA, wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi supporting her 20-point programme that her government had put in place to garner public support for the Emergency.