On 26 June 1975, the Indira Gandhi led Congress government had imposed Emergency in India. On 26 June 2015, to mark the 40th anniversary of this day, AIPF and CPI(ML) held anti emergency programmes in different parts of the country.
In Delhi, an evening of protest was organised at Jantar Mantar to voice protest against the ‘Emergency then and now’. The programme was conducted by Com. Kavita Krishnan. Activist and lawyer, N. D. Pancholi, talked about the Rss & BJP leaders’ apologies offered to the government during the emergency and their cowering before Indira Gandhi, quoting none other than current BJP member, Subramanian Swamy. He quoted excerpts from a write up by Subramanian Swamy, published in The Hindu in 2000 that showed how the then RSS chief, Balasaheb Deoras, wrote several apology letters to Indira Gandhi from inside the Yerawada jail in Pune and also on how Shri. Atal Behari Vajpayee had written apology letters to Indira Gandhi where after he remained on parole. The evening also saw protest songs sung by Sangwari and a beautiful rendition of ‘Bol ke lab azzad hai’ by Roma Malik. She also spoke about the struggles being fought by the adivasis to keep their land from being forcefully grabbed. Shabnam Hashmi sang a song composed to mock Indira Gandhi during the emergency. Prof. Atul Sood of JNU spoke about the undeclared emergency that the country was facing today. Poems were read out by Viren Dangwal and Vishnu Nagar. A ragini on Modi was performed by Satbir Shramik. Select film clippings were also presented by Sanjay Joshi, national convenor of Cinema of Resistance during the programme.
In Patna, an AIPF organized an evening of protest on ‘Emergency then and now’ in Gandhi Maidan in Patna. CPI(ML) General Secretary, Com. Dipankar addressed the gathering and cautioned them regarding the signs of emergency that could be seen and heard in today’s context. Programmes were also organized in Bhagalpur and several other places in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh where anti-emergency rallies were held protesting against increasing assaults on people’s democratic rights and livelihood in current times by the incumbent government.
