Shashi Tharoor recalls Emergency: ‘Indira Gandhi insisted draconian measures were necessary’

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who has been at loggerheads with the party leadership over a range of issues, took a sharp jibe at the Nehru family as he recalled the dark era of Emergency.

 

In a recent article published in Project Syndicate, Tharoor said, for 21 months the fundamental rights were suspended; the press was muzzled; and political dissent was brutally suppressed.

 

“Prime Minister Indira Gandhi insisted that the draconian measures were necessary: only a state of emergency could combat internal disorder and external threats, and bring discipline and efficiency to a chaotic country,” he wrote.

 

The Congress MP noted that the efforts undertaken to maintain discipline and order during the Emergency often turned into acts of cruelty that could not be justified.

 

"Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi, led forced sterilisation campaigns which became a notorious example of this. In poor rural areas, violence and coercion were used to meet arbitrary targets. In cities like New Delhi, slums were mercilessly demolished and cleared. Thousands of people were rendered homeless. Their welfare was not taken into consideration," said the Thiruvananthapuram MP.

 

Further narrating the atrocities during the Emergency, he wrote on how journalists, activists, and opposition leaders found themselves behind bars and the broad constitutional transgressions enabled a horrifying litany of human-rights abuses. 

 

“Torture in detention and extrajudicial killings – though less publicized at the time – were dark realities for those who dared to defy the regime.”

 

Tharoor, however, asserted that the Emergency should not be remembered merely as a dark chapter in India's history, instead its lessons must be fully understood.

 

The democracy, he wrote, is not something to be taken lightly. “It is a precious legacy that must be constantly nurtured and preserved.”

 

Tharoor warned that the temptation to centralise power, silence dissent, and bypass constitutional safeguards may reappear in various forms.

 

"Often, such tendencies may be justified in the name of national interest or stability. In this sense, the Emergency stands as a strong warning. Democratic stalwarts must always remain vigilant," he added.

India