Emergency,A Shortlived Janata Party Experiment...

The rise of Sanjay Gandhi: Indira’s younger son, her Achilles heel, becomes the power behind the throne. With Om Mehta, Bansi Lal and V.C. Shukla, he wields unlimited authority without responsibility. Especially unpopular is his forcible sterilisation programme, which aims at a target of 23 million over a period of three years. Between April and September 1976, 3.7 million people are sterilised, mostly among the weaker sections of the population. In another infamous case, he and I&B minister V.C. Shukla destroys prints of ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’, a satire on the misuse of power. Coins various slogans during his brief ‘reign’ , notably ‘work more, talk less’. A series of demolitions of slums at Turkman Gate, Jama Masjid and Karol Bagh, born of his zeal to make a ‘Paris’out of Delhi, further highlight Sanjay’s savagery.

After Indira Gandhi’s crushing defeat, wall posters land in garbage sacks (above); in ’77, an ailing JP anoints Morarji Desai as leader of a motley government,comprising all non-Congress parties barring the Left. In a symbolic gesture, the cabinet takes the oath of office at Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi at Raj Ghat. The new government vows to fight corruption but is riven by internecine squabbles and factionalism almost immediately. In two years,Charan Singh (right, with A.B. Vajpayee) brings down the government and forms his own with Congress and Left support. Indira ambushes it within 30 days and in 1980, the nation goes to the polls.

The firebrand Indian Express, with its series of political exposes in the run-up, becomes the censors’ chief target during the Emergency. The government pursues revenue cases against chairman Ramnath Goenka and his home is raided. Editor S. Mulgaonkar is eased out. Goenka slips into a coma, son B.D. Goenka is forced to set up a new board of directors packed with Sanjay cronies. The board is told to select an editor from a list of Congress stooges. Goenka comes out of coma, fires the new directors,takes over again and continues his rousing diatribe. Circulation figures notch up an all-time high.