Saving India from Indira: The Untold Story of Emergency, Memoirs of J. P. Goyal 
Edited by Rama Goyal
Rupa Books, 284 pages, Rs 500 

Since Independence, India has deviated from democratic life only once—during the twenty-one months of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.
 
‘Saving India from Indira’, published in 2019, describes the events leading up to, and during the darkest days of, democratic India, as they actually unfolded. Recounted by J.P. Goyal, a key lawyer for Raj Narain in the famous election case against Mrs Gandhi that led to the imposition of the Emergency on 25 June 1975 at the behest of prime minister Indira Gandhi, this no-holds barred account of a crucial insider describes the twists and turns in this case in the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court of India. It gives a blow-by-blow account of the battle that Goyal, along with a battery of lawyers, waged in the Supreme Court to defend the Constitution of India against the amendments that could alter its basic structure. 

This gripping narrative includes an account of Goyal’s meetings with political leaders in jail, including Jayaprakash Narayan and Raj Narain, and reveals many hitherto unknown facts that Goyal was privy to. 

Jagdish Prasad Goyal (1926–2013) was Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). He was associated with many important cases, including the habeas corpus cases and those relating to the attempt in November 1975 by the then Chief Justice A.N. Ray to review the Kesavananda Bharati judgement of 1973. He was a Member of the Socialist Party, Bhartiya Lok Dal, and Janata Party. 
 
The book is edited by Rama Goyal, daughter of the author. An economist and editor, she has worked for the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Observer Research Foundation, Institute of Applied Manpower Research, and Oxford University Press, amongst others, and has been Consultant to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

On the occasion of the fiftieth aniverary of the proclamation of the Emergency, we reproduce an excerpt from the book:

When the Janata Party workers and leaders came out of jail they were penniless. There were no funds with the party. There was no organization. It was a people’s election and people arranged everything for themselves. The response was tremendous. In UP, all the eighty-five seats were won by the Janata Party. Similarly, in Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, no seats went to the Congress party. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party got one seat each. In Orissa and Bengal, it got four and three seats, respectively. Thus, in nine states, the Congress party could secure a total of only nine seats in the Lok Sabha.

In South India, the Congress party succeeded in getting a vast majority, possibly because the rigours of the Emergency were not fully felt in that region. On the night of 20 March 1977, the result of the election in the Rae Bareli constituency was declared by the Returning Officer, who was the DM of Rae Bareli. Various attempts were made on Smt Indira Gandhi’s behalf to delay and torpedo the results. An application was filed for recounting and the same was rejected by the Returning Officer. This was followed by yet another application, which was rejected too. I stayed awake throughout that night when the Rae Bareli result was to be announced. To know about and discuss the election results, I contacted people in various cities, including Rae Bareli, where Shri Raj Narain was stationed, to know and discuss the election results.

When the All India Radio declared the result of the election early next morning, there was great rejoicing all over the country. Smt Indira Gandhi had acted like Bhasmasur and got herself burnt in the elections. She lost personally to Shri Raj Narain in Rae Bareli by 55,250 votes. Shri Raj Narain was later appointed India’s Health Minister in the Janata Party government.

Even after the election results were declared, Smt Indira Gandhi did not lift the Emergency. It was obvious that her plan was that in case the election results were to go against her, she would put the leaders and workers behind bars again. However, the atmosphere in the country became so much against her, fuelled by the fervour of the election campaigns, that she could not have the courage thereafter to execute her plan. There was great apprehension that she might declare martial law after her defeat. But it appears that she could not do so as perhaps she felt that the army would not side with her in these changed circumstances.

In spite of the fact that she and her party had lost the election, Smt Indira Gandhi did not resign immediately. She resigned only two days later on 22 March 1977, and it is alleged that during this period she destroyed important files and made some other arrangements of her own. The rules of democracy require that she should have submitted her resignation immediately after she was defeated at the polls but she did not do so. This clearly shows that she did not believe in democracy. After the formation of the Janata Party at the Centre, the state governments, which were mostly of the Congress party, were extremely uncooperative and indulged in anti-people activities in their respective states. Then, a President’s Order was promulgated under Article 356 of the Constitution, dissolving the Assemblies in the nine states where people had expressed their lack of faith in the Congress party by electing Janata Party candidates with overwhelming majority.

Six state governments, including that of Rajasthan and Punjab, filed petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the dissolving of their state Assemblies. However, these petitions were dismissed by the Supreme Court. Nine Assemblies were dissolved and then elections took place in these states. The Congress was badly defeated again in all these states. In West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] won with a majority, leading to the formation of a CPI (M) government there. The Janata Party formed governments in Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and UP. In Punjab, a coalition of the Akali Dal and the Janata Party formed the government.

The Janata Party withdrew the Emergency imposed in 1975 on account of ‘internal disturbance’ as well as the Emergency imposed in 1971 on account of external aggression and restored to the people all freedoms, including the valuable Fundamental Rights. The party also formed its economic policy and began work with sincere earnestness. There were high hopes that the country would make great progress. It was rather unfortunate that before realising their dream, the Janata Party government crumbled like a house of cards. Various factors, including divisions and differing ambitions within the party, were responsible for this. Morarji Desai resigned from the office of prime minister on 19 July 1979. Charan Singh succeeded him as the prime minister but had to resign after only three weeks. The then President of India, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, called fresh elections to the Lok Sabha for January 1980.

[The excerpt reproduced with the permission of the publishers.]
Photo: Courtesy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Radj_Narain,_Bestanddeelnr_929-0812_%28cropped%29.jpg