A.K. Antony’s 1976 Guwahati speech prompted Indira Gandhi to lift the Emergency, claims Congress intellectual

It was former defence minister A.K. Antony's highly critical speech at the AICC session in Guwahati during the Emergency that played a pivotal role in Indira Gandhi’s change of mind—eventually leading her to lift the Emergency and call for elections, claims Congress intellectual and historian Cherian Philip. Today, June 25, is the 50th anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi declaring the national Emergency.

 

Philip, back then a 21-year-old journalist, had reported Antony’s speech for the mouthpiece of Congress in Kerala, Veekshanam.

 

“Antony issued a stern warning against the excesses and misuse of power during the Emergency. He openly declared that indefinitely postponing general elections was a deviation from the democratic legacy of Gandhi and Nehru,” recalls Philip.

 

The Guwahati speech catapulted Antony to national prominence as a man of ideals and courage, adds Philip. “Though there were rumours that he would be removed from the KPCC president’s post, Indira Gandhi took no action against him,” he notes.

 

Cherian also recollects that he did not have press accreditation to enter the session, but entered the press room using a pass issued by the conference's reception committee. From there, he used a teleprinter to send news to Kochi.

 

Cherian recalls that there was a notice posted in the press room which said that no reference to the Emergency should be reported. “But with a spirit of defiance, I sent a detailed report of Antony’s speech. The report was published as the lead story on the front page of Veekshanam under the headline: 'Antony’s Warning Against the Emergency', with my byline. No other newspaper reported his controversial remarks,” he notes.

 

During the Guwahati AICC session, Sanjay Gandhi was the star attraction, second only to his mother Indira Gandhi.  In 2013, US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks claimed that A.K. Antony was “one of the only” leaders apart from West Bangel leader Priyaranjan Dasmunsi who “flatly criticised” Sanjay Gandhi during 1976 AICC session in Guwahati.

 

In another cable, there was mention of Sanjay Gandhi’s unpopularity with the KPCC faction led by Antony.

 

This cable said that the KPCC faction led by then state home minister K. Karunakaran supported Sanjay, as does one section of the Kerala Youth Congress. However, the wing of KPCC led by Antony and the other faction of the Youth Congress did not support him. “Antony and those refusing to support Sanjay questioned his rapid ascent to a position of power, asking themselves, we understand, what sacrifices he has made for the party or the country,” it said.

 

According to Philip, as soon as he returned to Kerala after the AICC session, officials from the Central Intelligence Bureau interrogated him. And, that the chief censor in Kerala demanded an explanation. “However, thanks to the intervention of the then home minister K. Karunakaran, I was neither arrested nor charged,” he recalls. 

India