Tavleen Singh writes: Our noisy, chaotic democracy
Next week will be the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. For me, it is a particularly important anniversary because had I not been an impressionable junior reporter in that time 50 years ago, I may not have chosen political journalism as a career. It was because I saw how overnight India moved from being a noisy, chaotic democracy to a dictatorship. Noisy and chaotic are the words Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used for India's democracy during the show trial that led to his execution by a military dictator.
They are good words to describe what Delhi was like in the days before that midnight when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. Overnight, every major Opposition leader was thrown into jail and in Delhi, policemen could be seen under almost every other tree. And they were so determined to crush all dissent that in Connaught Place a wandering street performer was arrested because a policeman heard Indira Gandhi's name mentioned while he tried to get his monkey to obey him. Overnight, at restaurants and coffee shops where people like us met for noisy discussions, signs appeared warning people that it was forbidden to talk about politics.
As a reporter who had until then paid more attention to human rights issues than politics, I learned very quickly that politics, in half-made countries like ours, was more important than anything else. So important that it permeated every aspect of our lives. I also learned that democracy was what held India together and that ordinary, illiterate people understood its importance better than those who spent their evenings gossiping about politics in Delhi's drawing rooms. Ordinary people understood better because it was they who were forcibly sterilised and they whose homes were flattened by bulldozers in the name of beautifying Delhi.
The important question is whether that brutal repression of democratic rights can happen again, and the answer is that it can, but in a more dangerously subtle way. There are those who say that since Narendra Modi became prime minister, an 'undeclared emergency' has come into force. I hesitate to make sweeping judgements of that kind, but what has happened is that some freedoms we took for granted have become endangered. This has been done not by throwing Opposition leaders, journalists and dissidents into jail, but by tweaking the laws to make curbs on freedom legally possible.
The law that is supposed to prevent sedition has been tweaked to widen the definition of that word. Laws meant to curb black money have been tweaked as well and if a dissident does not end up in jail for 'anti-national activities', he could end up rotting in some forgotten cell because the Enforcement Directorate charges him with money laundering. The Opposition leaders who have these charges thrown at them have fought back valiantly because they have political parties behind them, but dissidents and journalists have just learned to keep quiet. Is that good? Is that democracy?
After Donald Trump became president, there are many Indians who have gleefully taken to declaring that if Trump can impose curbs on freedom, then why should Indian leaders not do the same? Having just returned from New York, where I go to see my son, who has been denied an ordinary visa to come to India because of an article he wrote, may I say that there is huge pushback against what Trump is doing. While I was there, he held a military parade in Washington to show off American weapons in the way that tinpot dictators do. And on the day of the parade, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in 'noKings' rallies. I witnessed one of these rallies in a small town in upstate New York and was astonished that so many men, women and children were unafraid to stand up for democracy.
While I was in New York, I also met university professors who did not hesitate to speak out against Trump's attempts to curb academic freedom. It bothers me that there has been so little protest against attempts to curb freedoms in our own ancient 'mother of democracy'. One reason is that the Bharatiya Janata Party has wrapped itself in the Indian flag and turned nationalism into a shield. After Operation Sindoor, this has become so serious a problem that the smallest attempt at criticism can land you in jail for being anti-national. One of the most appalling examples of this was when Ali Khan Mahmudabad was jailed for a harmless tweet. I was horrified that people I thought believed in democracy supported his arrest.
So, on this 50th anniversary of that day that led to India becoming a dictatorship for a while, we need to think seriously about what we should all be doing to protect our democracy. It is a fragile thing, democracy, and can easily be crushed unless people, ordinary people, stand up for their rights. Not in a ridiculous way by wandering around with a copy of the Constitution in our pockets, but in a real way by daring to speak up when we see dissidents jailed as terrorists and journalists silenced by the Enforcement Directorate. I hesitate to say this but in recent years that noise and chaos that Bhutto, who hated India, noticed has become a little less noisy. Chaotic it still is but what we need is more noise when patriotism is used as a weapon against dissident voices.
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New Indian Express
4 hours ago
- New Indian Express
A tale of twists and turns of two leaders in Kerala during Emergency
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Half a century after the country suffered through Emergency, the twists and turns that it left behind in Kerala continues to spin curious political tales. As the nation prepares to observe the 50th anniversary of Emergency on June 25, not many would be aware of how two veterans of state politics, switched to the other side of the political spectrum during the period. The dark days of the Emergency are obviously something that the entire Congress leadership in Kerala would want to forget; but not him. Senior Congress leader and former speaker N Sakthan Nadar would probably be the only leader who has happy memories associated with the period. Sakthan who was part of the Kerala Congress -- not a Congress ally back then -- underwent a two-month jail term in the initial days of Emergency in 1975. Beginning his public life via student politics at Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Sakthan went on to win the student union election at Thiruvananthapuram Law College as a Kerala Student Congress (KSC) candidate. He was district secretary of the Kerala Congress when he took part in the anti-Emergency protest. He was arrested from the picket line at the Secretariat. 'It was 1975. A host of leaders such as C K Hareendrdan and Selvaraj served jail terms with me. Comrade K Anirudhan was our leader in prison. I was in jail for two months,' recounts Sakthan. As fate would have it, the Kerala Congress became part of the Congress-led political front in 1976 and Sakthan crossed over to the other side. 'It was Mani sir (K M Mani) who brought me into politics. In 1977, I was fielded as a Kerala Congress candidate. In 1984, I joined the Congress and became minister and speaker. Incidentally, I'm the only leader in the entire country who has served as pro-tem speaker, deputy speaker and speaker of the house in the same assembly session,' Sakthan told TNIE. The tale takes an interesting turn, with the entry of the other leader. Even as Sakthan moved to the Congress, at around the same time, a prominent Congress leader decided to part ways with the grand old party.
Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Indian Express
Tavleen Singh writes: Our noisy, chaotic democracy
Next week will be the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. For me, it is a particularly important anniversary because had I not been an impressionable junior reporter in that time 50 years ago, I may not have chosen political journalism as a career. It was because I saw how overnight India moved from being a noisy, chaotic democracy to a dictatorship. Noisy and chaotic are the words Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used for India's democracy during the show trial that led to his execution by a military dictator. They are good words to describe what Delhi was like in the days before that midnight when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. Overnight, every major Opposition leader was thrown into jail and in Delhi, policemen could be seen under almost every other tree. And they were so determined to crush all dissent that in Connaught Place a wandering street performer was arrested because a policeman heard Indira Gandhi's name mentioned while he tried to get his monkey to obey him. Overnight, at restaurants and coffee shops where people like us met for noisy discussions, signs appeared warning people that it was forbidden to talk about politics. As a reporter who had until then paid more attention to human rights issues than politics, I learned very quickly that politics, in half-made countries like ours, was more important than anything else. So important that it permeated every aspect of our lives. I also learned that democracy was what held India together and that ordinary, illiterate people understood its importance better than those who spent their evenings gossiping about politics in Delhi's drawing rooms. Ordinary people understood better because it was they who were forcibly sterilised and they whose homes were flattened by bulldozers in the name of beautifying Delhi. The important question is whether that brutal repression of democratic rights can happen again, and the answer is that it can, but in a more dangerously subtle way. There are those who say that since Narendra Modi became prime minister, an 'undeclared emergency' has come into force. I hesitate to make sweeping judgements of that kind, but what has happened is that some freedoms we took for granted have become endangered. This has been done not by throwing Opposition leaders, journalists and dissidents into jail, but by tweaking the laws to make curbs on freedom legally possible. The law that is supposed to prevent sedition has been tweaked to widen the definition of that word. Laws meant to curb black money have been tweaked as well and if a dissident does not end up in jail for 'anti-national activities', he could end up rotting in some forgotten cell because the Enforcement Directorate charges him with money laundering. The Opposition leaders who have these charges thrown at them have fought back valiantly because they have political parties behind them, but dissidents and journalists have just learned to keep quiet. Is that good? Is that democracy? After Donald Trump became president, there are many Indians who have gleefully taken to declaring that if Trump can impose curbs on freedom, then why should Indian leaders not do the same? Having just returned from New York, where I go to see my son, who has been denied an ordinary visa to come to India because of an article he wrote, may I say that there is huge pushback against what Trump is doing. While I was there, he held a military parade in Washington to show off American weapons in the way that tinpot dictators do. And on the day of the parade, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in 'noKings' rallies. I witnessed one of these rallies in a small town in upstate New York and was astonished that so many men, women and children were unafraid to stand up for democracy. While I was in New York, I also met university professors who did not hesitate to speak out against Trump's attempts to curb academic freedom. It bothers me that there has been so little protest against attempts to curb freedoms in our own ancient 'mother of democracy'. One reason is that the Bharatiya Janata Party has wrapped itself in the Indian flag and turned nationalism into a shield. After Operation Sindoor, this has become so serious a problem that the smallest attempt at criticism can land you in jail for being anti-national. One of the most appalling examples of this was when Ali Khan Mahmudabad was jailed for a harmless tweet. I was horrified that people I thought believed in democracy supported his arrest. So, on this 50th anniversary of that day that led to India becoming a dictatorship for a while, we need to think seriously about what we should all be doing to protect our democracy. It is a fragile thing, democracy, and can easily be crushed unless people, ordinary people, stand up for their rights. Not in a ridiculous way by wandering around with a copy of the Constitution in our pockets, but in a real way by daring to speak up when we see dissidents jailed as terrorists and journalists silenced by the Enforcement Directorate. I hesitate to say this but in recent years that noise and chaos that Bhutto, who hated India, noticed has become a little less noisy. Chaotic it still is but what we need is more noise when patriotism is used as a weapon against dissident voices.
Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Indian Express
Delhi govt mulls bringing back private liquor vends under new excise policy
Private players could make a comeback in Delhi's liquor shops. The Delhi BJP government, which is preparing a new excise policy, is considering reintroducing private liquor shops in the Capital — just as it was in the old excise regime before 2021. The government plans to implement the new policy by July 1 with an aim to increase revenue, curb corruption and bring transparency. According to sources, the government is likely to provide licences to private players to provide a good walk-in experience for customers. 'About 100-150 private liquor shops, mostly in malls and other premium locations, are being considered. The numbers will be finalised once the policy is ready. The modalities of how to issue the licence, whether through an e-auction or e-lottery, are currently being discussed. A meeting of a high-level committee set up to prepare the policy, which is headed by the Chief Secretary, was also held on Friday. Issues such as the number of shops, licensing, etc, were discussed,' sources said. Under the pre-2021 policy, both government and private liquor shops operated in Delhi. In November 2021, the government — the AAP was in power at the time — had exited the liquor business and handed things over to private vendors, with an aim to cut down corruption. The policy soon ran into controversy and investigations by multiple agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. In 2022, the government scrapped this policy and brought back the old excise regime — but only liquor shops run by government corporations were allowed to operate. Almost all top AAP — including former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia — were jailed in the case. Currently, a major issue facing Delhi is the unavailability of popular and good quality brands of whisky, beer, vodka, gin, and several others. 'Some popular brands are not in Delhi as their parent company was blacklisted from selling liquor in the national capital following complaints of irregularities and court cases during the implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy… Less popular brands have entered the scene, which has pushed customers to neighbouring states… The government is planning to increase the availability of popular brands and is likely to reintroduce some that are currently not available in Delhi shops…,' said sources. Popular choices like Chivas Regal, Blenders Pride and Royal Stag, part of the Pernod Ricard brand, are not available in Delhi. Pernod Ricard India's application for an L-1 licence was rejected earlier. Benoy Babu, a regional manager at PRI, was a witness in the CBI's excise case. Babu was eventually arrested by the ED. Meanwhile, discussions on rationalising brand licence fees and retail margins are also underway, said sources, adding that excise duty and retail licensing are also likely to be increased under the new policy. 'The retail margin cap is Rs 50 for Indian-Made Foreign Liquor and Rs 100 for foreign liquor. This is on a per-bottle basis. Government-run shops have monopolised the retail business by pushing less popular brands at the range of Rs 400 to Rs 600, instead of stocking premium brands. Also, cheaper brands sell fast… Thus, discussions are on to rationalise these margins to increase revenue as well as make premium brands available for customers,' said sources. Industry sources said private retailers have started searching for properties in the city to set up shop. Currently, there are over 700 liquor shops in Delhi run by the four government corporations — Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Delhi Consumer's Cooperative Whole-sale Store and Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation. The Excise Department has asked the four corporations to carry out document validation online by June 30. Last week, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said several reforms will be incorporated into the new policy, including scientific testing of liquor quality, digitisation of the sale system, curbing illegal sales, and ensuring transparency in the licensing process. The high-level committee is also studying policies implemented in Delhi earlier and those in neighbouring states.
