TMC MP Sagarika Ghose blames RSS for the Emergency, whitewashes role of the Congress party and sings eulogies for Indira Gandhi: Here is the actual truth
On the 50th Anniversary of the Emergency, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and former ‘journalist’ Sagarika Ghose took to X (formerly Twitter) to distort history and give a clean chit to the atrocities perpetrated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the darkest phase of Indian democracy.
In a tweet on Tuesday (25th June), Ghose brazened out, “Indira Gandhi imposed #Emergency1975 because RSS was pushing India towards total anarchy.”
She did not stop here but went to eulogise the former Prime Minister for ‘calling elections’ and ‘taking questions in public’.
Sagarika Ghose was under the impression that her factually incorrect tweet and the subsequent attempt at whitewashing the image of Indira Gandhi would make people forget the horrors of Emergency.
The Rajya Sabha MP also shared a video of the Congress leader speaking to the media in 1978, wherein Gandhi claimed that she had the support of the public.
“My political future has been exactly the same, and it is not what the press has said it is. I have had the people’s support throughout, regardless of the image that all of you have been trying to project…” the former PM was heard saying in the video.
“Immediately after the defeat, I have had the people’s support wherever I have gone in this country in an unmistakable manner. Look, I imposed censorship and I said I was imposing it,” she had conceded.
Towards the end of the video snippet, Indira Gandhi was heard saying that she did not want people to be ‘victimised’.
The propaganda video was used by Sagarika Ghose to suggest that the Congress leader was compassionate towards the people and that it was the RSS which somehow ‘provoked’ Indira Gandhi to implement the Emergency
What is the Truth behind Emergency
The Emergency, which was declared on 25th June 1975 and remained in effect until 21st March 1977, remains one of the darkest chapters in the history of independent India.
It was declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It marked a period of authoritarian rule, during which fundamental rights were suspended and press freedom was curtailed.
At the same time, Opposition leaders were jailed, and civil liberties were brutally crushed. The backdrop to this authoritarian turn was political turbulence and not the make-believe ‘anarchy’ of the RSS.
The 1971 war victory and the emergence of Bangladesh had elevated Indira Gandhi’s stature.
However, discontentment began to increase as the Congress government failed to check rising inflation, economic stagnation and widespread corruption. By 1974, public confidence in the Indira Gandhi government had almost eroded.
The tipping point came with the Allahabad High Court’s landmark judgement on 12th June 1975.
Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha found the sitting Indian Prime Minister guilty of electoral fraud in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections and invalidated her seat.
Opposition parties led by Jayaprakash Narayan launched a nationwide movement demanding Indira Gandhi’s resignation. Massive protests were witnessed in the National Capital against the ruling Congress government.
On the advice of trusted aides like Siddhartha Shankar Ray and son Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi directed President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of Emergency under Article 352 (internal disturbances) of the Indian Constitution.
By midnight of 25th and 26th June, the government clamped down on Opposition leaders and arrested them under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).
The Indian press was muzzled. ‘The Indian Express’ famously ran a blank editorial on 28th June 1975 as a form of ‘silent protest’. The most notorious aspect of the Emergency was the suspension of civil liberties.
The Indira Gandhi government invoked Article 359 to deny Indians the right to seek judicial remedy for violations of their fundamental rights. Sanjay Gandhi oversaw arbitrary arrests, torture in police custody forced sterilisation drives.
The number of forced sterilisations were estimated between 8-12 million, most of whom were poor and vulnerable.
Over 1 lakh people were detained without trial during the 21 months of the Emergency. No one was spared including opposition leaders, civil rights activists, journalists, academics.
The judiciary too appeared to buckle under pressure. In the infamous ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla case, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens had no right to habeas corpus during the Emergency.
India’s democratic image took a beating in the international media, with many highlighting serious human rights abuses by the same Indira Gandhi (who is being presented as a champion of democracy in 2025 by the likes of Sagarika Ghose).
The Congress leader’s insecurities post-Allahabad High Court judgement and fear of losing power made her take the drastic decision to curtain freedom and civil liberties of Indian citizens and not alleged ‘anarchy’ of RSS’
The Janata Party was born from this struggle and it swept the 1977 elections, which ended the uninterrupted, rule of the Congress party since 1951.
Now 50 years later, the likes of Sagarika Ghose are re-inventing new history, distorting facts to give a clean chit to the tainted legacy of the Gandhi family.
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