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Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Gujarat students ‘showed the light', then it became a beacon
A year before the country witnessed the imposition of the Emergency and the fight against it under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan (universally known as JP), Morarji Desai and others, Gujarat witnessed a massive student-led movement – the Navnirman Andolan – against inflation and corruption in 1973-74. The movement, which eventually resulted in the resignation of then Congress Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel and the dissolution of the Gujarat Assembly, proved an inspiration for the JP Movement and his call of 'Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution)'. Like the JP Movement did in Bihar, the Navnirman Andolan also saw the emergence of a new generation of leaders in Gujarat. Manishi Jani, a student leader who became one the prominent faces of the movement, recalls how price rise and scarcity of essential commodities had left the general public angry. 'Amidst this, in December 1973, the authorities increased the monthly mess fare of students at government colleges from Rs 70 to Rs 90. Students of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering in Ahmedabad objected. On December 20, they set the canteen on fire. A newspaper article highlighted how many students were eating only once a day to save money. Many ran into debt.' Ten days after the canteen was attacked at the Ahmedabad college, Jani says, 'There was a similar incident in Morbi (at Lukhdhirji Engineering College), where students protesting against poor food quality and price rise vandalised a laboratory.' Despite the protests, however, the authorities further hiked the mess charges. This led to a call by students of the Ahmedabad engineering college for a massive protest on January 2, 1974, where they clashed with police. 'Police entered the hostel and lathicharged them. About 200-225 students were taken into custody.' An informal forum of students called the Yuvak Lagni Samiti met at Gujarat University to plan what to do next. 'We decided to hold a big march to the Navrangpura Police Station, where the students were held. Eventually, they were released,' Jani says, adding that this was when the agitation began building up as a protest against the state government. 'We held various protests under the banner of the Yuvak Lagni Samiti. Our point was: The inflation was not natural, but manmade, the result of a nexus between traders, hoarders and big farmers.' Students accosted ministers in public, held gheraos of political leaders, gave shutdown calls for colleges and schools. Trade unions joined them, followed by non-Congress parties. A bandh held in Ahmedabad on January 10, 1974, proved so successful, Jani says, that 'even newspapers were not distributed' that day. CM Patel bore the brunt of the ire because of his own financial interests in the education sector and involvement in university politics. The influential Adhyapak Mandal, a university-level association of professors, also came out against the government. Soon, the agitation had spread across the state, getting spontaneous support from the public. The leaders of the agitation then decided that it was time to give it a formal structure, to ensure better coordination of events planned. This led to the formation of the Navnirman Yuvak Samiti, with office-bearers. The name 'Navnirman' was reportedly given by a journalist. Jani was named president of the Samiti's Executive Committee. Among the innovative protests rolled out by the Navnirman Samiti was the call for 'sarkar no mrutyughant (the death knell of the government)'. 'The idea was given by one of our supporters and leader of the Adhyapak Mandal, K S Shastri. We demanded that the Chimanbhai Patel government be removed and the Assembly be dissolved. We asked people to clank rolling pins on steel plates at night,' Jani says. Just over a year after that canteen protest over fare hike, the Navnirman Yuvak Samiti called for a Gujarat Bandh on January 25, 1974. Days to go, the Congress government began arresting the leaders and supporters of the movement en masse under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), among other provisions. Jani says this was another miscalculation by the Patel government. 'After that, the agitation got out of the government's control… On January 25, all of Gujarat remained shut except for Bhuj and some villages of Kutch. People formed Navnirman Samitis in every district on their own. We started the agitation, but now it became a 'lok andolan (people's movement)'.' Narhari Amin, one of the office-bearers of the Navnirman Yuvak Samiti and now a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, says that by early 1974, 'students had started holding meetings at the district level'. 'The government used excessive force in reply, resorting to lathicharge and police firing… More than 100 people died and public properties were set on fire. Thousands of people blocked railway tracks. The Army was called in to control the situation.' Alarmed at the rumblings in Gujarat which were already echoing across the country in Bihar – JP was called to address the protesters in Gujarat – the Congress high command sent then Union Law Minister H R Gokhale to hold discussions with the protesters. Eventually, Patel resigned as CM on February 9, 1974, following which President's Rule was imposed in Gujarat. However, the Navnirman Yuvak Samiti continued its agitation, maintaining their original demand that the Assembly be dissolved. On March 16, 1974, the Indira Gandhi government at the Centre finally agreed to the same, and fresh elections were announced in June that year. A coalition Janata Morcha government came to power after the polls, with Morarji Desai playing a crucial role in this. Amin says that, notwithstanding the role of national leaders like Desai and JP, the Navnirman Movement remained essentially an agitation of students and 'not about Desai or Narayan'. 'They strengthened us by giving (moral) support… Desai once sat on an indefinite hunger strike in support of student demands.' The meeting JP addressed as part of the Navnirman Andolan was at H L Commerce College in Ahmedabad, says Ashok Panjabi, who headed the CPI's Gujarat student wing then and was part of the agitation. 'JP also held a meeting with agitating students at the Senate Hall of Gujarat University,' Panjabi says, adding that JP did not return after that as he wanted the Gujarat agitation to remain essentially a student protest. Now a Gujarat Congress vice-president, Panjabi says: 'JP took inspiration from Navnirman Andolan and gave a call for dissolution of the Bihar Assembly when he launched the Bihar andolan.' That agitation would build into a nation-wide protest, leading to the declaration of the Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government that saw itself as besieged. Jani recalls JP once saying: 'Gujarat ke chhatron ne mujhe prakash dikhaya (the students of Gujarat showed me the light).'
New Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Amit Shah and memories of a Gujarat Andolan that inspired JP's campaign against the Emergency
The Navanirman Andolan, launched by the students and middle-class in Gujarat towards the end of 1973, pulled down the state government in a matter of months. The success of that agitation would go on to spur the successful movement against Emergency that was declared 50 years ago to this day — on June 25, 1975. Two key leaders involved in the agitation reshaped national politics during the period. The first was Jayaprakash (JP) Narayan, the Lok Nayak who led the people's movement against then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Emergency. The other important figure was Morarji Desai, the leader of Congress (Organisation), which had split from the mother party when Congress (I) was formed. Morarji went on to become the leader of the Janata Party government that came to power in 1977 after Indira was ousted. JP came to Gujarat in 1974 after the students approached him to lead the Navnirman Andolan. The Andolan had begun with protests, among other things, against the high food fees at the mess in the Morbi Engineering College. But then it spread and began to be directed against the government of Chimanbhai Patel, the then Chief Minister. Chimanbhai was forced — by the pressure mounted by the Andolan and its popularity — to resign by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on February 9, 1974. The movement would inspire JP, who had been wrestling with the problem of how he could mount a serious challenge against the corruption he saw in his home state of Bihar during this period. "For years I was groping to find a way out. In fact while my objectives have never changed, I have all along been searching for the right way to achieve it. I wasted two years trying to bring about a politics of consensus. It came to nothing... "Then I saw students in Gujarat bring about a political change with the backing of the knew that this was the way out," he wrote in Everyman's Weekly that came out on August 3, 1974. The Bihar movement that JP launched, inspired by the Navnirman Andolan, later transformed into the Sampoorna Kranti that forced Indira Gandhi out of power. Three days after Emergency was revoked, on 24 March 1977, Morarji Desai was sworn in as Prime Minister — at the ripe old age of 81 — the oldest leader to hold the office till date. Among those who heard stories of those highly-charged days was an 11-year-old Balsevak going by the name of Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah. On June 25, 2025 — the 50th anniversary of the announcement of Emergency — the now Home Minister shared his memories on X. "I was a Bal Swayamsevak of RSS then and heard firsthand the excesses and injustices during the dark days of Emergency. The memories of that time, though faded as I was very young then — the suppression, the torture, the blatant assault on democratic values — are still vivid in my memories," Amit Shah recounted. He also expressed his "immense pride in having been associated with a movement that stood up against this tyranny, and with a leader who fearlessly raised his voice to protect Bharat's democracy and its Constitution (Jayaprakash Narayan)," he added. Shah slammed the Emergency "imposed 50 years ago, by a despotic ruler, whose sole aim was to preserve her dynastic rule". It "was one of the darkest chapters in India's history", the Home Minister underlined.
India Today
12-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
The story of Indira Gandhi's Emergency; the beginning
In 1975, Indira Gandhi's Emergency reshaped democracy's fate. This series revisits the drama, defiance, and legacy of a crisis that pushed India to the brink, testing its One: Caged Tigress and a Wounded NationJune 12, 1975 was an extremely hot day, even by Allahabad's searing, humid standards. The courtroom of Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha sizzled with tension, like a pressure cooker ready to the streets churned with whispers as a throng of humans waited for the arrival of the most powerful woman in India, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Inside, Raj Narain, the greying socialist who had challenged her, sat with a glint of defiance. Questions crackled in the cauldron like spicy rumours: Is this her end? Will the Iron Lady be demolished by a stern, unwavering judge who forbade lawyers to rise even when the Prime Minister arrived in the court? If yes, will the rivals pounce on her? India held its breath for answers. Indira Gandhi's fate hung midair with the judge's gavel, which was ready to Showdown in GujaratIndia was already simmering with dissent and defiance. In January 1974, the Navnirman Andolan erupted in Gujarat. Sparked by a hike in hostel food prices at an engineering college in Ahmedabad, it channelled widespread anger over inflation and food shortages. Corruption charges against Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel's Congress government fueled the rage. Students boycotted classes, organised strikes, and clashed with police, chanting 'Chiman chor!' (Chiman, the thief!). Protests escalated into riots. Buses were burned, public property damaged and government offices were attacked. By February, over 100 deaths and 1,000 arrests marked the Gandhi, the PM who had not wilted under threats from the US and China, defied powerful men like Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, blinked in the staredown with students. The movement's intensity forced Patel's resignation on February 9, 1974, and President's Rule was Opposition got a whiff of victory. It was soon on Indira Gandhi's of the RevolutionaryMarch 1974, Patna. Enter Jayaprakash Narayan, JP, a 72-year old revolutionary with fire in his eyes. In post-Independence politics, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reportedly wanted JP in his Cabinet, seeing him as an able deputy. But the austere leader had refused, preferring renunciation over power. But the fast-moving circle of politics brought him back to the fore, pitting him against Nehru's Bihar, students mirrored Gujarat's fury, protesting corruption and unemployment. JP, revered for his Gandhian past, saw a nation revolting against Indira's rule, a reminder of the freedom movement but against their own rulers. On April 8, he joined their cause, christening it the Total Revolution.'We must cleanse the system,' he declared at a Patna rally, his voice rising over the hum of an excited crowd. Indira dismissed him as a relic, but the people hailed him as a confrontation building up, Indira Gandhi resorted to the tested technique of diversion through in the DesertMeanwhile, on May 18, 1974, Pokhran: A desert tremor shook the world as the Buddha Smiled, India's first nuclear test at Pokhran in Rajasthan. Politically, it was a triumph for Indira Gandhi, boosting her image as a decisive leader. It rallied national pride, temporarily deflecting criticism amid rising unrest from the Navnirman Andolan and JP's Total Revolution. However, the euphoria was short-lived, as opposition parties, including Jan Sangh, accused Indira of using the test to distract from domestic the test strained an already fragile economy grappling with inflation. Global sanctions followed, with the US and Canada halting nuclear cooperation, limiting access to technology and foreign aid, which deepened economic inflation soared past 25%, food shortages hit harder. In villages, people queued for hours for rationed grain. In cities, housewives protested empty markets. The nuclear glow couldn't mask the hunger in the streets. Nationalism went out of the window as hunger knocked at the crisis was waiting to tap the on the RailsIn June 1974, trains stopped chugging, and engines fell silent. George Fernandes, a socialist maverick who was known to be so busy that he didn't even comb his hair, unleashed a railway strike that paralysed India. As president of the All India Railwaymen's Federation, he rallied millions of workers to halt trains for 20 days, demanding better wages amid crushing inflation. Stations emptied, goods rotted, and the economy government struck back with arrests. Fernandes went underground, turning into a fugitive hero. The momentum was building up, India was on the cusp of an Bihar, JP's movement gained steam. He formed the Bihar Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti, uniting students and activists. His rallies drew thousands. In his speeches, he called for a revolution: 'This government is corrupt, immoral. Rise against it!'In Delhi, Indira's son was rising. Sanjay Gandhi, her brash heir, scoffed at the protests. But the crowds told a different toured India, his frail frame rising in defiance. 'This is a fight for democracy,' he roared in Bombay, drawing cheers from students and workers March 6, 1975, JP led a massive march to Parliament, a sea of protesters demanding Indira's resignation. He urged police and bureaucrats to defy 'immoral' orders, a direct challenge to the state. Indira, watching from her office, felt the walls closing Resounding DefeatApril 1975, Gujarat: The Janata Front, backed by JP, swept Gujarat's state elections. The Congress, led by Indira Gandhi, won 75 of 182 seats, losing 65 from 1972. The Janata Front, a coalition of Congress (O) –the rebel faction– Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal, and Socialist Party, secured 86 seats, forming the government with support from Kisan Mazdoor Lok Paksha. Babubhai Patel became Chief Minister on June 15. It was a humiliating blow, a sign of the nation's anger and mood for change. Indira's grip was slipping. The template for the future was set.A Legal TangleIn Allahabad High Court, Raj Narain's case against Indira was waiting for the climax. In the 1971 General Elections, Indira Gandhi won from the Rae Bareli Constituency in Uttar Pradesh by a margin of 1,11,810 votes over her nearest rival Raj Narain, backed by the Samyukta Socialist Party. Raj Narain challenged the outcome, citing misuse of official machinery and corrupt electoral lawyer, Shanti Bhushan, argued Indira's campaign had used government resources, including her aide Yashpal Kapoor, who hadn't properly resigned as a gazetted officer before campaigning. Some called it a minor oversight, but the challenger stuck to his guns, demanding the election be declared null and Rise: Indira FallsJune 12, 1975, Allahabad: Justice Sinha's verdict landed like a guillotine: challenge upheld, election is void. As the crowd stared in disbelief, Justice Sinha delivered the killer blow. Finding Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices, he barred her from contesting for six years. With one stroke of the pen, he had dislodged Indira Gandhi, and ordered her into political hibernation for six news spread like wildfire. In Patna, JP called it 'a triumph of justice.' In Delhi, opposition leaders planned their next move. Indira called it a conspiracy. Sanjay urged decisive action. Outside, protests swelled. In retaliation, crowds gathered to support Indira Gandhi. The nation shivered in fear of turbulence and Countdown Begins in DelhiOn June 15, JP demanded Indira's resignation at a Delhi rally. On June 20, Indira rallied her supporters at the Boat Club, vowing to fight. On June 24, the Supreme Court granted a partial stay. Indira Gandhi could remain PM but not vote in Parliament. JP upped the ante, announcing a nationwide agitation. He thundered, 'Singhasan khali karo.' (Vacate the throne).Indira Gandhi was being pushed deeper into a cage. No one expected the Iron Lady to yield without a fight. On June 25, India was to learn about Indira Gandhi's resolve to push the boundaries of the battle with chilling Indira Strikes Back: The Dawn of EmergencyTrending Reel
