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New Indian Express
19 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
No need for socialism in India, secularism not core of our culture: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Rajendra Chaudhary slammed the BJP and the RSS for suggesting that the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Constitution's Preamble could be done away with. "These statements merely prove that the RSS and BJP don't believe in democracy and are making attempts to weaken the Constitution," Chaudhary told PTI. UP Congress chief Ajay Rai told PTI, "Such statements in fact validate what we have been saying for long that the RSS and BJP don't have any faith in the Constitution. This country belongs to all. The Congress will protect the Constitution at all costs." Chouhan said he was only 16 years old when the Emergency was promulgated and he was also arrested and taken to jail under Defence of India Rules. "Even today, I get goosebumps remembering those dark days. During the Emergency, if there was a frenzy to demolish houses at Turkman Gate, the public was crushed by bulldozers. If anyone protested, they were riddled with bullets. It was not bullets fired on the public, it was the murder of the Constitution," Chouhan recalled. The Union minister said there was neither any appeal, nor "vakeel" (lawyer), nor "daleel" (argument) and alleged that it was murder of the Constitution.
The Print
a day ago
- Politics
- The Print
No need for socialism in India, secularism not core of our culture: Union minister Chouhan
In indirect support to the RSS' call to review the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Constitution, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday also said any right-thinking citizen will endorse it because everybody knows that these words were not part of the original Constitution written by Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. Chouhan's remarks assume significance as the RSS on Thursday called for reviewing the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the preamble of the Constitution, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by B R Ambedkar. Addressing an event organised at New Delhi on 50 years of the Emergency, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said, 'The preamble of the Constitution Baba Saheb Ambedkar made never had these words. During the Emergency, when fundamental rights were suspended, Parliament did not work, the judiciary became lame, then these words were added.' Speaking at a programme held in Varanasi to mark 50 years of the Emergency, Chouhan said, ''Bharat mein samajwad kee zaroorat nahi hai… Dharmanirapeksh hamaaree sanskrti ka mool nahin hai aur issliye is par zaroor vichaar hona chaahiye' (There is no need for socialism in India… 'Secular' is not the core of our culture and hence, this must be deliberated upon),' he said. Varanasi (UP), Jun 27 (PTI) Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said 'there is no need for socialism in India', adding 'secularism is not the core of our culture'. Recalling the days of the Emergency, Chouhan said in order to save her power, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in the country. 'There was no threat to external security nor was there any threat to internal security. The only threat was to the prime minister's chair, hence, on the night of June 25, 1975, the Emergency was declared in the country without holding a cabinet meeting,' the Union minister said. Veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Rajendra Chaudhary slammed the BJP and the RSS for suggesting that the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Constitution's Preamble could be done away with. 'These statements merely prove that the RSS and BJP don't believe in democracy and are making attempts to weaken the Constitution,' Chaudhary told PTI. UP Congress chief Ajay Rai told PTI, 'Such statements in fact validate what we have been saying for long that the RSS and BJP don't have any faith in the Constitution. This country belongs to all. The Congress will protect the Constitution at all costs.' Chouhan said he was only 16 years old when the Emergency was promulgated and he was also arrested and taken to jail under Defence of India Rules. 'Even today, I get goosebumps remembering those dark days. During the Emergency, if there was a frenzy to demolish houses at Turkman Gate, the public was crushed by bulldozers. If anyone protested, they were riddled with bullets. It was not bullets fired on the public, it was the murder of the Constitution,' Chouhan recalled. The Union minister said there was neither any appeal, nor 'vakeel' (lawyer), nor 'daleel' (argument) and alleged that it was murder of the Constitution. 'All civil rights were suspended. Putting a lock on the freedom of the press is murder of the Constitution, reducing the rights of the court, making it ineffective — it was murder of the Constitution. 'Making the entire country a prison — this was the murder of the Constitution. All opposition parties and even students were put in jails. The Congress is the killer of the Constitution,' he said. The senior BJP leader took a dig at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and without naming him alleged that the Congress does not have the right to keep a copy of the Constitution. 'Those dark days are still remembered. Dictatorship is in the DNA of the Congress. Those who roam around with a copy of the Constitution in their hands will have to answer, he said. Chouhan said if the Congress wants to learn democracy, it should learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'The Bharatiya Janata Party respects the spirit of democracy but for what Congress did, I am repeating again that they should rub their nose and apologise to the country that they had committed this historical mistake,' he said. 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly believes in democracy and that is why the work of celebrating Constitution Day in independent India was done by Prime Minister Modi. Democracy is in the nature of the Bharatiya Janata Party,' Chouhan said. PTI COR NAV MAN KSS KSS This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
A generation of activists in their formative years faced Emergency onslaught head-on
When the Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975 the CPI(M) leadership, at first, viewed it as a draconian measure to permanently enforce an authoritarian set-up. It was felt that parliamentary democracy would remain truncated for a long period of time. However, after the first few weeks, it became clear that the Emergency was a manoeuvre resorted to by a beleaguered Indira Gandhi to outwit and thwart the opposition. PREMIUM Students of JNU demonstrating and demanding for the removal of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (HT Archives) Soon after the big 'Garibi Hatao' victory in the Lok Sabha elections of 1971, popular discontent grew due to the failure of the government to fulfil the promises made during the elections. The JP movement and the historic railway strike of 1974 marked the growing opposition. The Allahabad high court judgment disqualifying Indira Gandhi's election was the catalyst for this extraordinary anti-democratic step to somehow survive in power. This move for petty political gain could be fought by mobilising the people in defence of democracy. When Emergency was declared, I happened to be the President of the Students Federation of India (SFI). I was also a CPI(M) cadre and a doctoral student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The SFI, which was founded in late 1970, had in a few years emerged as a militant student organisation active in the fight for students' rights and against the increasing authoritarianism of the Indira regime. As such, it came under attack during the Emergency. Nine of the key office bearers and leaders of the organisation were arrested and detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) across the country. Another 60 cadres were detained under MISA over time. Hundreds of student activists were arrested under the Defence of India Rules (DIR). In such a situation, I was instructed by the party to function underground to avoid any possible arrest. My first responsibility was to ensure the minimum organisational functioning of the SFI at the all India level. In Delhi, the authorities launched an attack on JNU students and the Students' Union. On the night of July 7, hundreds of armed police raided the hostels in the campus and took away scores of students for interrogation to the police station. Ten of them were detained while the rest were let off. The JNU campus stood out for organising resistance to the Emergency under the leadership of the Students' Union. The police were searching for the President of the Union, DP Tripathi, to arrest him. A dramatic incident occurred when the police in plain clothes led by the notorious DIG, (PS) Bhinder, entered the campus and kidnapped an SFI activist, Prabir Purkayastha, mistaking him for DP Tripathi. In order to cover up their mistake Purkayastha was put in jail under MISA for the rest of the Emergency. The campus saw a three-day strike by students against the expulsion of a student union leader. All around the country students of different persuasions unitedly organised protest activities. I was able to visit different states in order to keep the organisation afloat and many places to conduct covert activities. For the opposition, Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu was a hospitable place to organise meetings and discussions because the then DMK government under chief minister Karunanidhi was opposed to the Emergency. However, that sanctuary did not last long. The DMK government was dismissed by the Centre in January 1976. The Emergency, though it lasted only 21 months, was also a period which was eventful in my personal life. I got married to Brinda, a fellow CPI(M) cadre. Since we were both functioning in a semi-underground manner, a marriage function was held quietly in a comrade's house. She went by the name of Rita, while I was Sudhir. A painful event was the death of my mother who had single-handedly brought me up facing many odds. She passed away at the age of 54. She had been separated from me when I went underground. Fortunately, she was able to live with us for the last four months of her life after we got married and rented a small flat. For a generation of activists who were in their politically formative years, the experience of the Emergency was enlightening. It taught us about the fragility of democracy and democratic institutions and the need not to take democratic rights for granted. At the same time, working amongst people, particularly students, gave us the confidence that it is ultimately the people who would come out in defence of their hard won rights. Quite a few of the leaders of the SFI who were active in that period and experienced repression during the emergency went on later to become part of the top leadership of the CPI(M). Manik Sarkar, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Sitaram Yechury and MA Baby were among them. Many of the 'Emergency generation' of student and youth leaders of the JP movement and other opposition parties also emerged as top leaders of their parties. Looking back fifty years later, one can see the Emergency as the first major onslaught on the democratic system of the country. This drastic action was preceded by a series of smaller actions from the 1950s which whittled down democratic rights and civil liberties. However, it is a mistake, as many do, to compare the present situation in the country with the Emergency of yore. The past decade is often termed as an 'undeclared Emergency'. This is a misnomer. The present onslaught on democracy and the constitutional principles is much more insidious and has brought about an institutionalised authoritarianism. The 1975 Emergency gambit seems a pale shadow in comparison to the full-fledged authoritarianism that we are experiencing today.
The Wire
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri, a Freedom-Fighter-Turned-MP Par Excellence
Chaudhuri was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms and was a member of the Lower House from 1952 to 1984. Later, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1987 and again in August 1993. Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri. Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri was a freedom fighter, parliamentarian par excellence and legendary revolutionary socialist leader. He spent about 12 years in British jails and 19 months in Portuguese jails during the liberation struggles. As an member of parliament for more than four decades, he symbolised the golden era of Indian parliamentary politics. He was also a gifted orator and a prolific writer. He distinguished himself in the nation's life with his single-minded devotion to the service of the country. Chaudhuri was born on December 13, 1911 in Dacca (now in Bangladesh). He studied in Murshidabad and Berhampore. His adolescent years and early youth coincided with the outburst of the anti-imperialist, nationalist mass movement in India of the 1920s and 1930s in the shape of the non-cooperation and civil disobedience movements. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty. He was arrested in 1931 and kept in detention in the Hijli Detention Camp in the Midnapur district of Bengal near Kharagpur and then in the Deoli Detention Camp in Rajasthan up to 1937. Soon after this, in 1940, Chaudhuri and several other leaders of the newly-formed Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Anushilan Marxists were arrested. He was detained under the Defence of India Rules by the British government, with Subhas Chandra Bose. The main charge against them was that they supported Bose's anti-war and immediate-action line against the British government. Chaudhuri was kept in detention as a security prisoner in the Hijli Special Jail and in the Dacca and Dum Dum Central Jails for six years during War time from 1940 to 1946. The years of detention in the late 1930s were a period of re-education and ideological transformation for revolutionaries. Most of them, including Chaudhuri, came back after years of study and prolonged political discussion as convinced socialists and Marxist-Leninists believing in class struggle and mass action. Chaudhuri played a prominent role in the formation of the RSP. After Independence, he built up the RSP, as the party's general secretary. According toChaudhuri, Lenin's well-known dictum, "Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary party", also implies logically that "Without a revolutionary party there can be no revolutionary theory." He was of the opinion that in the India of the day, the correct revolutionary theory can only be a theory of proletarian socialist revolution as a prelude to the socialist transformation of India's socio-economic structure that had become historically urgent and unavoidable for socio-economic reasons. A distinguished parliamentarian Chaudhuri was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms and was a member of the Lower House from 1952 to 1984. Later, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1987 and again in August 1993 till his death on December 21, 1997. He was the leader of the RSP in parliament. During his tenure as a member of the first Lok Sabha, Chaudhuri participated in the Liberation Satyagraha Movement against Portuguese colonialism in Goa. He entered Goa in July 1955 with a batch of volunteers and was arrested and sentenced by the Portuguese authorities for 12 years. He was, however, released after 19 months of imprisonment, just on the eve of the second election to the Lok Sabha in 1957. Then prime minister and Congress president Jawaharlal Nehru, describing Chaudhuri as a 'National Hero', decided not to put up any Congress candidate against him in his constituency. In 1974, during his fifth term in parliament, Chaudhuri was unitedly put up as a candidate for the office of the president of India against Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed by a majority of the opposition parties. Though he lost the election, the contest attracted a good deal of admiration from the political public on account of the dignified way in which it was conducted. During the Emergency, he acted as a spokesman of parties opposed to the Emergency. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty Chaudhuri's speeches in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on a large number of national and international issues throw light on his thorough grasp of a range of subjects, his analytical power, his grassroots understanding and his extraordinary high oratorical skill. He was a champion of the toiling millions and an ardent defender of the downtrodden and the oppressed. In fact, he fought for broadening the democratic rights and liberties of the people and all along he challenged and fought against any encroachment on them. He was also very active during the Question Hour in Parliament. He raised questions on subjects like unemployment, shortage of food, issues relating to employees of the tea industry, jute mills, workers' rights, foreign policy, agriculture policy, etc. Chaudhuri was also a master of all parliamentary techniques and forms, and he used all the possible openings – special mentions, calling attentions, half-an-hour discussions, adjournment motions, etc. – to put across his points of view on varied issues. He also spoke time and again about the plight of the people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and stressed their democratic and human rights and the need for India to mobilise world public opinion about it. An eminent trade union leader A close friend and champion of workers, labourers, peasantry, youth and students, Chaudhuri was associated with various trade unions and their welfare organisations. He held senior positions in the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC), which was the trade union wing of the RSP. Chaudhuri made his mark as a prolific writer as well. He was the editor of the RSP's theoretical publication, Call. His memoirs on the Goa Satyagraha in Bengali, Nineteen Months in Salazar's Prison, evoked a good deal of popular interest in the late 1950s when it was first published. Along with Nihar Ranjan Roy, he was the joint editor of the well-known Bengali literary-cultural monthly Kranti for several years. He also penned several political and polemical tracts expounding the RSP's points of view on the issues of the times. As general secretary of the RSP for more than three decades, he wrote two brochures: 'Why RSP?' (Historic Need for a Party of Socialist Revolution in India Today) in 1970 and 'Four and Half Decades of the RSP' in 1985. Chaudhuri died on December 21, 1997 at the age of 86 when he was a member of Rajya Sabha and the leader of the RSP in the parliament. Qurban Ali is a trilingual journalist who has covered some of modern India's major political, social and economic developments. He has a keen interest in India's freedom struggle and is now documenting the history of the socialist movement in the country. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
How Indian democracy survived the Emergency
It was the summer of 1976. In Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, as dusk gave way to night, a gathering of people enjoyed a friendly chat at the bungalow of a prominent person in the town. Amidst the gathering, a frail man, his face partially obscured by a towel, arrived and prostrated at the host's feet. His body trembled like a dried, yellow leaf, his distress palpable. He was a washerman with a harrowing tale, from a village nearby. During the Emergency, the bureaucracy, hand in glove with the government, had turned alarmingly autocratic (HT Archive) Tears streaming down his face, he recounted how a minor altercation a few days ago had taken an unexpected turn. He believed the matter had been settled, but he had gravely underestimated the situation. The person with whom he had quarrelled had a relative who was a police sub-inspector. A few days later, a police team raided the washerman's home. The charge: 'Conspiring to uproot railway tracks with the aim of bringing about armed revolution.' He struggled even to pronounce these words, terms that were entirely alien to him just 48 hours ago. Fortunately, on the day of the purported incident, he visited a distant relative. Had he been home, he would have been apprehended and incarcerated for months under the infamous Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Surprisingly, those present at the bungalow that evening were initially sceptical. They assumed he was talking through his hat, taking everyone for a ride to avoid a minor inconvenience. However, his story proved chillingly true. After intervention from the district authorities, the matter was resolved. Yet, his case was a more common occurrence than people believed. During those dark days of Emergency, approximately 35,000 individuals were detained under MISA, and over 75,000 under the equally notorious Defence of India Rules (DIR). Millions more were arrested under various other laws, ranging from as young as nine to over 90 years of age. The detainees spanned the entire political spectrum, with the exception of the Congress and the Communist Party of India. What drove the Indian system to such extremes? During the Emergency, the bureaucracy, hand in glove with the government, had turned alarmingly autocratic. Despite the draconian measures, the initial days of the Emergency paradoxically brought a sense of order that many people welcomed. Trains began running on time. Buses adhered to strict schedules. Crime rates plummeted. Government employees were punctual, and the insidious practice of bribes to expedite files seemed to vanish. Classes in schools were conducted regularly, and street hooliganism largely disappeared. Vinoba Bhave, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, even lauded the Emergency as anushasan parv (era of discipline). Middle-aged and elderly people often remarked that it felt as if the time of the British Bahadur had returned, an era where 'sher aur bakri ek hi ghat se paani peete the' (the lion and the goat drank water from the same place), implying a return to strict but fair governance. It might seem astonishing to read this in 2025, but many at the time indeed considered such actions necessary. This week marks 50 years since the beginning of the so-called anushasan parv, and the memories of those days continue to stir me. Apparently, Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency after the Allahabad High Court annulled her election. However, other darker forces were at play. In the 1971 general elections, she coined the slogan garibi hatao and fielded 442 Lok Sabha candidates, winning 352 seats. But she failed to eradicate garibi (poverty) and unemployment, and a disillusioned student community and labourers took to the streets to vent their frustration. A woman who was likened to Durga during the Bangladesh campaign was now seen as a failed ruler and the Emergency was the last gambit of a cornered Prime Minister. During this period, a campaign of nasbandi (forced sterilisation) was aggressively pursued, allegedly at the behest of her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi. It is widely alleged that this was an attempt to curb the growth of minority populations, with police reportedly raiding settlements of minorities and the vulnerable, forcing them into sterilisation. While isolated incidents may have occurred, I vividly recall family planning being promoted as a national campaign. Senior officials were given undeclared quotas, and they, in turn, pressured their subordinates, suggesting that those with three children should undergo sterilisation for their benefit. Tragedies such as the Turkman Gate demolitions unfolded in New Delhi. The government machinery, armed with bulldozers and a large police contingent, descended upon the Turkman Gate area in the name of beautification' When residents resisted, they were shot at, resulting in an undisclosed number of deaths and injuries. The government never released the exact figures, and the media, already muzzled, could not effectively report on it. During that time, many newspapers were forced to get pre-publication approval from the district administration for their content. Those were truly the dark days of the Indian Republic. Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi's friend, later wrote in her book how even Indira was disturbed by these aberrations. She sought counsel from the philosopher J Krishnamurti, and it was only after this spiritual reflection that she decided to lift the Emergency and call for elections, according to Jayakar. The Congress lost the general elections in 1977, and the Janata Party won office. How Indira Gandhi later returned to power is another story, but 50 years on, while remembrance of those days brings regret, there is also immense pride that despite stumbling so badly, we Indians took the fall on our chin, brushed off the dirt and not only preserved our democracy but achieved new milestones of development over the following decades. We can all be proud of this enduring democratic and never-say-die spirit of our countrymen. Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. The views expressed are personal
