Five decades after emergency: Echoes of fear, courage and resistance

He may be unknown to most of Haryana and the country, but in the oral history of Mewat, Abdul Rehman, the then village head of Uttawar, is remembered as a hero. In 1976, during the Emergency, Rehman is said to have led a courageous resistance against the infamous vasectomy raids carried out under Sanjay Gandhi’s sterilisation campaign.

“You can’t neuter even a Mewati dog, leave aside our men,” Rehman had warned the government teams who came to forcibly take men for sterilisation. He reportedly helped several young men, especially unmarried boys, escape into the Aravallis, saving entire family lines from extinction.

The quiet village of Uttawar in Palwal district may appear nondescript today, but in the shadow of the Emergency, it became one of the key battlegrounds of forced family planning.

Although Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975, it was only in November 1976 that its brutal impact was felt here, when raids began targeting men for forced sterilisation under the “camp approach” promoted by Sanjay Gandhi.

“How can we forget that night of November 1976?” recalls Muhammad Yakoob, now 82. “We had a tip-off. We were being targeted for resisting threats and coercion from officials. We formed night patrol teams, but when the masjid loudspeakers started blaring, calling every man and boy over 15 to gather in the school ground — we knew they had come. Even today, I feel the chill of that night. Horse-mounted police surrounded the village to stop anyone from escaping.”

According to village elders, this was not a surprise raid. For months, senior officials and police had been pressuring the villagers to undergo sterilisation. Posters promoting family planning were plastered everywhere.

“They had slogans like: ‘Ek, do, teen bachhe, ghar mein rehte hain achhe; thode ho to achha khaye, ghanain ho to bhuke chillayein’,” said Yakoob, who was a father of four when he was sterilised.

“That night around 10,000 policemen camped at the Eidgah ground. Officials told us sterilisation was no longer optional. It was mandatory. Targets had to be met,” he added.

“Many of us were unmarried or had only daughters. We wanted sons. Nobody had a choice,” said Mohammad Deenu, who voluntarily came forward so younger men could escape.

The impact lasted for decades. For years, families in Uttawar found it difficult to marry off their daughters, believing all men had been sterilised.

“They destroyed families. Some bloodlines ended completely. The abandoned houses in Uttawar still stand as silent witnesses to the tragedy,” said Shaguf Malik, a retired schoolteacher who was sterilised at 18 while his wife was pregnant with their first child. He moved to Delhi’s Matia Mahal the day after his operation at Palwal hospital.

Haryana Tribune