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Business Standard
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Congress must apologise for imposing emergency in 1975: Venkaiah Naidu
Terming the imposition of Emergency by the Congress government in 1975 as a 'draconian measure', former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu opined that the grand old party should apologise to the people for curtailing civil liberties during that period. In an exclusive interview to PTI, Venkaiah Naidu, who was a student union leader while pursuing law in Andhra University in Visakhapatnam during the emergency period, said he had to spend nearly one and a half years in prison for raising his voice against the government of the day. "It was a draconian measure. They (Congress) should have apologised for it. They should have regretted it. But the Congress never repented or apologised to the people. But they should have regretted imposing the Emergency. Now, on the occasion of the 50th year of emergency, they should express regret publicly," Naidu said. "I feel that they should really apologise to people for imposing emergency, for containing civil liberties, for imposing press censorship. And also, all civil liberties were taken away. Right to protest was taken away, Venkaiah Naidu added. The former VP said during the Emergency, every newspaper was put under censorship, and Press Council Act was amended too. Recalling his memories, Naidu said, in the capacity of chairman of the Students' Union, he invited Jayaprakash Narayan to address the students, for which he was arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). He further said he got a message from RSS sources that there was a possibility of him getting arrested as an emergency was imposed, prompting him to leave Visakhapatnam and go underground for two and a half months, visiting different places disguised. He was finally arrested when he was going to Guntur from Vijayawada in September 1975 and sent to the Central prison in Visakhapatnam and later to Hyderabad. So a total of around 17 months, and 25 days or so, I was in jail. I was fortunate that I could meet important leaders, freedom fighters, and people belonging to different ideological backgrounds who were all there in the jail. In the jail, they were treated as political detainees, he said. According to him emergency measures were harsh in North India while in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu the implementation was not that strict as Vengala Rao (Congress) and Karunanidhi (DMK), then chief ministers respectively, did not enforce it vigorously. Venkaiah Naidu said he, along with his friend, executed a plan of disrupting a public meeting of Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indra Gandhi, releasing non-venomous snakes on the ground, leading to a chaotic situation in the rally. After the emergency, he unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections on the Janata Party ticket from Ongole in AP, though the party came to power in 1977. Marking the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency, the Ministry of Culture has planned to undertake a year-long commemoration of it starting June 25, and prepared a schedule of activities which it has shared with various states and UTs for them to host these events. In a letter dated June 14, the ministry stated that the imposition of the emergency on June 25, 1975, stands as a stark reminder of the darkest period in India's democratic history.
The Hindu
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Congress should apologise for imposing emergency in 1975, says Venkaiah Naidu
Terming the imposition of Emergency by the Congress government in 1975 as a 'draconian measure', former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu opined that the grand old party should apologise to the people for curtailing civil liberties during that period. Read our Indepth Coverage on the 1975 Emergency: The Dark Age of Indian democracy In an exclusive interview to PTI, Venkaiah Naidu, who was a student union leader while pursuing law in Andhra University in Visakhapatnam during the emergency period, said he had to spend nearly one and a half years in prison for raising his voice against the government of the day. "It was a draconian measure. They (Congress) should have apologised for it. They should have regretted it. But the Congress never repented or apologised to the people. But they should have regretted imposing the Emergency. Now, on the occasion of the 50th year of emergency, they should express regret publicly," Mr. Naidu said. "I feel that they should really apologise to people for imposing emergency, for containing civil liberties, for imposing press censorship. And also, all civil liberties were taken away. Right to protest was taken away,' Venkaiah Naidu added. The former VP said during the Emergency, every newspaper was put under censorship, and Press Council Act was amended too. Arrested under MISA Recalling his memories, Mr. Naidu said, in the capacity of chairman of the Students' Union, he invited Jayaprakash Narayan to address the students, for which he was arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). He further said he got a message from RSS sources that there was a possibility of him getting arrested as an emergency was imposed, prompting him to leave Visakhapatnam and go underground for two and a half months, visiting different places disguised. He was finally arrested when he was going to Guntur from Vijayawada in September 1975 and sent to the Central prison in Visakhapatnam and later to Hyderabad. 'So, a total of around 17 months and 25 days or so, I was in jail. I was fortunate that I could meet important leaders, freedom fighters, and people belonging to different ideological backgrounds who were all there in the jail. In the jail, we were treated as political detainees,' he said. According to him emergency measures were harsh in North India while in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu the implementation was not that strict as Vengala Rao (Congress) and Karunanidhi (DMK), then chief ministers respectively, did not enforce it vigorously. After the emergency, he unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections on the Janata Party ticket from Ongole in AP, though the party came to power in 1977. Marking the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency, the Ministry of Culture has planned to undertake a year-long commemoration of it starting June 25, and prepared a 'schedule of activities' which it has shared with various states and UTs for them to host these events. In a letter dated June 14, the ministry stated that the imposition of the emergency on June 25, 1975, stands as a 'stark reminder of the darkest period in India's democratic history.'
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
50 years on, Emergency lingers as memory and metaphor in Mumbai
June 25, 1975. Bombay woke up to an announcement on All India Radio that Emergency had been clamped across India in view of 'internal disturbances.' Heavy rains darkened the city's bleak mood. 'There was a blanket of fear over Bombay in the first few weeks. No authentic information was available thanks to press censorship. I was 23 and scared as the future suddenly seemed grim and uncertain,' said music critic and writer Amarendra Nandu Dhaneshwar, who would go on to spend two years in prison as a class 'A' detainee as political prisoners were then termed. But initially, there were also some people, especially among the city's middle class, who were happy to see government officials with their noses to the desk and suburban trains arriving on time, said Gujarati writer Ramesh Oza. But very soon the reality of the Emergency started to bite and the protest movement began, he added. Oza recalls sneaking into the ward at Jaslok Hospital where Jayaprakash Narayan, helmsman of the anti-Emergency stir, was undergoing treatment for kidney ailment. 'I was 21 and hugely nervous. I told JP-ji that I was keen on doing my bit to restore democracy. From his hospital bed he put me on to a senior Sarvodaya functionary, and got me inducted into the Bombay Sarvoday Mandal, a hub of civil rights activists.' Over the next two years, it was the city's socialists and Gandhians who kept the embers of the anti-Emergency crusade burning. Several of them were arrested under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), while many others went underground. 'The Gandhian-Socialist brigade dubbed it doosri aazadi ki ladai [second war of independence],' said Dhaneshwar. But every act of resistance was met by greater repression. Young men were randomly picked up from their homes for vasectomy. 'Aapression' (operation) became a dirty word across Maharashtra's rural heartland. On October 14, 1975, popular Sarvodaya leader Prabhakar Sharma's death by self-immolation at Wardha stunned the city. But it also fired up a whole new generation of protestors, most remarkably a slew of fiery women leaders. They included the writer-scholar Durga Bhagwat, Gandhian academics Usha Mehta and Aloo Dastoor, Socialist firebrand leader Mrinal Gore, Pushpa Bhave, Rohini Gavankar, Sudha Warde, and Jana Sangh leader Jayawantiben Mehta. Under Bhave's leadership, a small group of volunteers would plaster anti-Emergency posters in railway compartments after the last train had chugged out of Churchgate station. The police were constantly on Bhave's trail, but she always managed to give them a slip. As did Mrinal Gore, who dodged the cops for a year by changing homes and hair styles, said her friend and poet Usha Mehta. Gore once tip-toed into Usha Mehta's Shivaji Park residence at mid-night, unrecognisable because of her closely cropped hair and'modern' look. 'Mrinaltai would help us in household chores, even as she kept an eye on the window to check if a CID official was hovering around,' recalled Mehta, who memorialised the Emergency in a book titled 'Aanibaani Aani Aapan' (Emergency And We). Their comrade-in-arms Durga Bhagwat was arrested in June, 1976. The police entered the Royal (now Mumbai) Asiatic Society, her second home, even as she was sitting down to lunch. The cops were embarrassed when Bhagwat offered them food, said noted writer-translator Ashok Shahane. There were others such as Minoo Masani, the editor of 'Freedom First' who contested censorship orders while publisher-writer Ramdas Bhatkal of Popular Prakashan which would go on to publish JP's Emergency memoirs, and Usha Mehta and academic DV Deshpande floated the 'Group of 1977' to provide financial relief and legal aid to Emergency victims. When the state department for publicity objected to the publication of a coruscating translated essay by Sunil Gangopadhyay in the literary magazine 'Satyakatha', the editor Ram Patwardhan chose to keep the page blank rather than lop off of a few paragraphs from Gangopadhyay's piece, said Sunil Karnik, who was then a sub-editor on the magazine. Long incarceration brought some sections of the Socialists and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh closer. RSS members Wamanrao Parab and Swaroopchand Goel, among others, were Dhaneshwar's cell-mates at the Arthur Road prison. Sudhir Joglekar, a senior Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad member, shared the Yerawada prison cell in Pune with Sadanand Varde and Jagannath Jadhav (both Socialists), and Datta Patil and Prabhakar Patil (both Peasants' and Workers' Party). However, the camaraderie forged in jail did not quite dissolve ideological differences, which eventually brought down the Morarji Desai -led Janata government in 1979. Fifty years on, Emergency continues to flicker on Mumbai's grey horizon both as memory and metaphor.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Maharashtra Cabinet doubles emergency honorarium and expands benefit to spouses
Nagpur: The Maharashtra government has doubled the monthly honorarium for individuals jailed during the Emergency period (1975–77). The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister in Mumbai on Tuesday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The state cabinet also approved a series of amendments to the Emergency Honorarium Scheme, extending its benefits to the surviving spouses of eligible detainees. Under the revised scheme, individuals who were imprisoned for more than one month during the Emergency will now receive ₹20,000 per month, while those jailed for less than a month will get ₹10,000. The surviving spouse of such detainees will receive ₹10,000 and ₹5,000, respectively — up from the earlier ₹5,000 and ₹2,500. In a significant relief for families, spouses of detainees who passed away before January 2, 2018, are now eligible to apply for the honorarium by submitting an affidavit. They will have a 90-day window to apply once the government notification is issued. The scheme, originally launched in 2018, aims to recognize the sacrifices of those arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and the Defence of India Rules (DIR) for their political and social resistance during the Emergency. It has seen widespread uptake across districts such as Nagpur, Pune, and Buldhana. With this decision, the government seeks to offer long-overdue recognition and financial support to both direct victims and their families. As per a recent Government Resolution dated May 30, 2025, the state sanctioned ₹28.12 crore for disbursement under the scheme for the period April 2025 to January 2026. Nagpur was allocated ₹3.43 crore for 402 beneficiaries, ranking third in the state after Pune and Buldhana. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The total budgetary provision for the scheme in 2025–26 stands at ₹55.50 crore, underscoring the government's commitment to honoring those who endured political imprisonment during one of India's darkest periods. District collectors will be responsible for processing new applications and ensuring timely disbursement. The latest changes mark a significant shift in both scale and sensitivity, acknowledging the lasting impact of political repression on thousands of families across Maharashtra.
Time of India
02-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Maha approves honorarium scheme for political detainees of Emergency-era
Nagpur: The Maharashtra govt approved ₹28.12 crore Emergency Honorarium Scheme to financially recognise individuals imprisoned during the Emergency period (1975–77). With 402 recipients, Nagpur accounts for ₹3.43 crore in disbursements, ranking third in the state — after Pune and Buldhana — underscoring its historical role in the democratic resistance to Emergency. As mentioned in the govt resolution (GR) of May 30, the state govt approved a budgetary provision of ₹55.5 crore for the 2025–26 fiscal, of which ₹28.12 crore was earmarked for distribution from April 2025 to January 2026 under the scheme. The scheme provides monthly payments ranging from ₹2,500 to ₹10,000 to eligible former detainees or their surviving spouses. It aims to honour those arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) and DIR (Defence of India Rules) for their political and social activism during the Emergency. Vidarbha featured prominently in this rollout. Buldhana district is among the highest in the state with 447 recognised beneficiaries, securing ₹2.57 crore. Other key Vidarbha districts include Wardha (₹91.75 lakh for 115 individuals), Amravati (₹62.25 lakh for 84), Chandrapur (₹73.75 lakh for 101), Akola, Yavatmal, and Gondia — all together forming a sizable portion of the overall beneficiary base. In total, Vidarbha's share crosses ₹9 crore. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Pune, with 482 beneficiaries, leads the state in disbursal amount at ₹4.3 crore. Following are districts like Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, with 39 and 114 beneficiaries receiving ₹34.5 lakh and ₹96 lakh respectively. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar accounts for 150 beneficiaries, securing ₹96 lakh in aid. Nashik (78 beneficiaries, ₹54.75 lakh), Jalgaon (177 beneficiaries, ₹1.22 crore), and Ahilyanagar (134 beneficiaries, ₹88.75 lakh) also feature prominently in the list. The funds were approved under the Social Security and Welfare segment of the state's 2025-26 budget. District collectors across Maharashtra have been tasked with identifying eligible individuals and ensuring payments are released by the 15th of each month. They are also required to submit monthly expenditure reports to the state auditor's office.
