Shashi Tharoor on the Emergency

Why is Shashi Tharoor writing about the Emergency in Project Syndicate? Is it to signal his quitting Congress? Let us see.

I was in India when the Emergency was declared, though I soon left for graduate studies in the United States and observed the rest of it from afar.

Tharoor could return to America and head up a think tank or become a talking head on TV. He isn't your run of the mill Indian politician.  

At its onset, I was struck by the profound sense of disquiet.

Actually, what struck journalists was the profound sense of quiet. The very chai-wallah who had been cheering for JP was now expressing pleasure at what Vinobha Bhave called 'anushasan parva'- the new age of discipline.  

Indira locked up her opponents for the same reason the Brits locked up Congress. The moment a politician calls for the Army to disobey orders he and his followers must be jailed. If the Army refuses to obey the administration, its authority melts away. Sheikh Hasina had to flee Bangladesh because the Army refused to back her. 

The vibrant cacophony of Indian public life, so accustomed to vigorous debate and free expression, had been replaced by an eerie silence.

That's what people liked. The question was whether JP & the Janata Morcha could run the country. Few thought they could but fewer yet thought they could fuck up so massively that Indira would be back in power within 3 years.  

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi insisted that the draconian measures were necessary: only a state of emergency could combat internal disorder and external threats, and bring discipline and efficiency to a chaotic country.

Edward Heath in the UK had declared a series of Emergencies before finally being driven from office by the Trade Unions. Canada too had to use the 'War Measures Act' to crack down on the Quebecois separatists.  Indira showed the world that India wasn't what the Myrdal's called a 'soft' state. It was well hard. The problem with becoming the Empress of Delhi is that you suddenly realize that sons kill their parents so as to inherit the throne. Even if Sanjay didn't pull the trigger himself, some of his cronies would. Indira abruptly announced elections so as to show Sanjay that he needed her much more than she needed him. Still, when she returned, it was on the understanding that Congress, henceforth, would be wholly dynastic. Sadly, assassination tempers autocracy. Still, Sonia- the pativrata widow- did a fantastic job reviving Congress. Rahul, however, is in no hurry to get shot or blown to pieces. Tharoor was recruited by Manmohan. He must be regretting choosing the party he himself had called the 'Kauravas' (the bad guys) in his 'Great Indian novel'. 

The judiciary buckled under immense pressure

No. Indira had already brought them to heel. They crawled when asked to bend.  

to back the move, with the Supreme Court even upholding the suspension of habeas corpus and citizens’ fundamental right to liberty.

They had previously tolerated ethnic cleansing and extrajudicial killing on an industrial scale. Once the Naxals killed judges, they had no problem with the police slaughtering them and chasing them into remote jungles.  

Journalists, activists, and opposition leaders found themselves behind bars.

Indira remembered that the British had won each and every confrontation with Congress. Sulking in jail saps the spirit. The Brits had dictated the scope and scale of reform and Congress had to meekly go along with it. 

Indira's genius was to place her faith in the utter uselessness of JP, Morarji and the rest of the gerontocratic leaders of the Morcha. It was only the Jan Sangh and the RSS which worried her. Janata kept falling apart on the 'dual membership' issue. It wasn't till the Jan Sangh (now called the BJP) took leadership that it was able to become an effective rival to Congress. However, if Rahul had the guts to become PM and lead his party into the 2014 elections, he would probably have won. You now have a crazy situation where the opposition does not have a PM candidate. Rahul doesn't want to be assassinated. If he takes the top job, crazy secessionists (who believe he supports them because he says India is like the European Union. Any state can secede.) will say he has betrayed them and then try to kill him. 

The broad constitutional transgressions enabled a horrifying litany of human-rights abuses.

West Bengal saw worse during the anti-Naxal crackdown. Siddhartha Shankar Ray had recommended imposing Emergency so as to use the same tactics in other parts of India.  

Torture in detention and extrajudicial killings – though less publicized at the time – were dark realities for those who dared to defy the regime.

This has always been the case. The law is merely a service industry. It can be ignored by the Executive.  

In fact, the quest for “discipline” and “order” often translated into unspeakable cruelty, exemplified by the forced vasectomy campaigns led by Gandhi’s son, Sanjay, and concentrated in poorer and rural areas, where coercion and violence were used to meet arbitrary targets.

In the South, Family Planning officials sought to persuade rather than threaten. In the North, Government officers were given a quota they had to fulfil. They paid money to goons to round up old people or children and get them operated on.  

Slum demolitions, carried out with ruthless efficiency in urban centers like New Delhi, rendered thousands homeless, with little to no concern for their welfare.

If those affected were Muslims, Delhiites were delighted.  

These acts were later downplayed as unfortunate excesses.

They didn't matter in the slightest. The Janata Morcha had imploded. It turned out that its members hated each other more than they hated Indira Gandhi. Congress could always create and then bring down evanescent coalitions. But, when Rajiv came to power with a huge majority (the 'sympathy vote' after his mother's assassination), it turned out that he lacked his mother's shrewdness (or paranoia) with regard to those in her Cabinet who might intrigue against her. Still, people felt he had learned his lesson and that his second administration would be stable. Sadly, he was foolish enough to tell an interviewer that he might send troops back to Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers felt they had a narrow window to kill Rajiv before he became PM. The Dynasty was left without effective leadership (though Rahul says he could have become PM in 1995. This is probably true) and thus India was able to grow a little.  

And some might point out that, in the Emergency’s immediate aftermath, there was a fleeting sense of order imposed, a temporary respite from the unruliness of democratic politics.

Tharoor is saying 'Modi has imposed order, curbed Ministerial corruption, improved governance without restricting democratic freedom.' Modi is a professional politician, not a dynast who joins politics to spend more time with his family whom he shamelessly enriches.  

But the violence was a direct consequence of a system where unchecked power had become tyrannical, and whatever order the Emergency delivered came at a very high price: the soul of our republic.

That soul was shit. The Janata Government proved this. Raj Narain- a clownish figure- had brought the court case which resulted in Indira's disqualification which in turn led to the imposition of Emergency. But Narain's intrigue played a big role in bringing down the Janata Party. This was predictable. He had previously been a thorn in Charan Singh's side in UP politics but he helped him bring down Morarji by splitting the Morcha on the 'dual membership' issue. After 1980, Indians decided that JP, Lohia, Narendra Deb and other Socialist stalwarts from the cow-belt were shit. Their disciples were welcome to impose 'Jungle Raj' on their own states. But they must be excluded from power at the center.  

The silencing of dissent, the curtailment of fundamental rights to assemble, write, and speak freely, and the blatant contempt for constitutional norms left an indelible scar on India’s polity.

No. It did change the attitude of the Bench which began usurping powers but its decisions can be ignored. 

Though the judiciary eventually found its spine,

It protested against extra-judicial killing in Punjab? Fuck off! The Bench engages in virtue signaling, but it can be wholly ignored.  

its initial faltering would not quickly be forgotten.

The Bench had stood up to Nehru by threatening to resign en masse. This was at a time when the Princely States had been newly integrated and the loyalty of the Army was open to question. By the time Indira split the Congress Party and got a big majority on her own, the Bench was in no position to stand up to her. One way or the other, she would pack the Bench. This was the Congress demand for a 'committed Judiciary'. 

And the period’s “excesses” caused deep and lasting harm

it didn't last long at all. Those who voted against Indira in 1977 voted for her in 1980. 

to countless lives, leaving a legacy of trauma and mistrust in affected communities – which they demonstrated by overwhelmingly voting Gandhi and her party out of power in the first free elections after the Emergency was lifted, in March 1977.

Why did Indira hold free elections? That is the question no one is willing to answer. Yet, the answer is simple enough. Indira knew enough of Mughal history to know that the Crown Prince's cronies are impatient for the death of the Emperor.  

The 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Emergency – which comes at a time of deep polarization and challenges to democratic norms in many countries – is an occasion for historical reflection and introspection.

No. It is an occasion to remember what might happen if Rahul becomes PM. He has crazy beliefs about 'Fascism'. He will want to jail RSS members and those he thinks have been contaminated by RSS thinking- e.g. cousin Varun. Having lived for many years with the fear of assassination, he will act in a completely paranoid way if he gets the top job. Also, he may prefer to run India from the safety of a foreign ski or beach resort.  

The Emergency offered a vivid demonstration of how fragile democratic institutions

Congress is not a democratic institution. It is wholly dynastic. Tharoor ran for the post of Party President. Sonia was not amused.  

can be, even in a country where they are ostensibly robust. It reminded us that a government can lose its moral compass and sense of accountability to the people it purports to serve.

No. It shows that a dynast feels a sense of 'Divine Right'. Thankfully, assassination tempers autocracy.  

And it showed how the erosion of freedom often happens:

by a dynasty taking control of what was meant to be a democratic political party.  

subtly at first,

there was nothing subtle about the way Indira superseded three more senior judges to appoint A.N Ray master of the roster in 1973.  

with the chipping away of seemingly minor liberties in the name of virtuous-sounding causes, until “family planning” and “urban renewal” become forced sterilizations and arbitrary home demolitions.

That had been done with the First Amendment. But, the plain fact is, the framers of the Constitution wanted a strong Executive at the Center whose authority, in an Emergency, was untrammeled. Nehru presided over, not just ethnic cleansing, but a crackdown on the Communists. Though Sheikh Abdullah was a personal friend, Nehru had no compunction in putting him under house arrest when he wagged his tail.  

The lessons of this experience are manifold and enduring.

The lesson is don't permit Dynasticism in politics- at least at the Center. Otherwise, you get 'Divine Right' autocrats.  

First, freedom of information and an independent press are of paramount importance.

Both were and are useless.  

When the fourth estate is besieged, the public is deprived of the information it needs to hold political leaders accountable.

Who is Rahul accountable to? The fourth estate is that 'harlot' whose perquisite is 'power without responsibility'. But harlots need to get paid. Thus, only money matters.  

That said, the cravenness of many media outlets in the face of intimidation remains inexcusable.

What is inexcusable is an intelligent man with a good UN pension slavishly serving a brain-dead dynasty.  

Second, democracies depend on an independent judiciary able and willing to serve as a bulwark against executive overreach.

No. A Democracy may let the President or the Legislature decide who gets to be a judge. No doubt, Tharoor likes the current SCOTUS. Biden could have expanded the Bench. Perhaps he thought he could get around to it in his second term.  

Judicial capitulation – even when temporary – can have severe and far-reaching consequences.

No. The Judiciary can do stupid shit and thus bring down the regime. In Bangladesh, the Bench brought back reservations which Sheikh Hasina had got rid of in 2018. This sparked the student protests which brought down the regime. The students went round to see the Chief Justice. He decided it was safer to resign. 

A question raised by Vance is what would happen if the Executive ignores the Courts. The answer is that, so long as the Army remains loyal, the Court can't enforce its judgments. It is disintermediated. America is different because it has 'dual Sovereignty'. India does not. 

The third lesson – perhaps the most pertinent in our current political climate – is that an overweening executive, backed by a legislative majority, can pose a grave danger to democracy,

Nope. Democracy is about the majority getting what they want- even if it is a dynastic leader.  

especially when that executive is convinced of its own infallibility

So not Modi who apologized for trying to bring in farm reforms.  

and impatient with the checks and balances that are essential to democratic systems.

I suppose what Tharoor means is that India needs an anti-nepotism law to prevent Dynasties taking root and establishing a patrimonial state.  

The Emergency was possible precisely because power was centralized to an unprecedented degree,

It had been centralized by Nehru. It must be said, Pakistan went further by concentrating all power in the hands of the Governor General under what the Bench called 'the doctrine of necessity'. This just means an expanded doctrine of political question or executive privilege. It should be noted that the UK and Canada had exactly the same provision for Emergency rule as India. Indira was just more successful than the hapless Heath. His Cabinet Secretary stripped off all his clothes and rolled around naked on the carpet of Number 10 screaming about a Communist conspiracy.  

and dissent was equated with disloyalty.

Tharoor is accused of disloyalty by his party. They are very angry that he led the Parliamentary delegation which visited several countries to present the case that Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism against India.  

The India of today is not the India of 1975.

Because Rahul isn't in power and hasn't locked up his cousin and his aunt and hundreds of thousands of other 'Fascists'.  

We are a more confident, more prosperous, and, in many ways, a more robust democracy.

Because the PM is not a dynast.  

Yet the lessons of the Emergency remain alarmingly relevant.

Pass an anti-nepotism law. Force the Dynasty out of politics. Let Congress once again become what it was when it was first created by a British Civil Servant. 

The temptation to centralize power, to silence critics, and to bypass constitutional safeguards can emerge in many forms, often cloaked in the rhetoric of national interest or stability.

or the divine right of the Dynasty.  

In this sense, the Emergency should serve as a potent warning: democratic stalwarts must be eternally vigilant.

against the Dynasty.  

All of us – in India and around the world – who believe in democracy must ask ourselves: are we sufficiently attuned to the subtle erosion of democratic values?

This cretin doesn't get that in a democracy a lady whose only qualification for high office is that her Daddy held it doesn't get that post. Nor does her son whose one skill was in flying planes. As for Rahul- we have to ask- is the boy retarded?  

Could we recognize, let alone resist, the advent of strongman rule?

Tharoor could slavishly serve under a nice Italian lady whose one qualification for running the Congress Party was that she was the widow of the grandson of the first Prime Minister.  

Are we doing enough to protect the institutions, from the press to the judiciary to civil society, that safeguard our freedoms?

What Tharoor has been doing since his return to India is propping up a corrupt, kleptocratic, Dynasty whose Clown Prince is mentally retarded.  

Let us not merely remember the Emergency as a dark chapter in India’s history, but instead internalize its lessons.

When Tharoor wrote 'the Great Indian novel', he plainly equated the Dynasty with the 'Kauravas' whose Divine Right was based on primogeniture (they were descended from the elder son just as Rahul is descended from the elder son of Indira. Poor Varun isn't even in Parliament any more. He was hoping to be taken into Congress but Rahul refused to have him. Perhaps, Akhilesh will do something for him.  

Let it be a constant reminder to people everywhere that democracy cannot be taken for granted;

Nor can the favor of the Dynasty unless you toe the line and are as obsequious as fuck.  

it is a precious inheritance that must be constantly nurtured and fiercely defended.

By licking the boots of the Dynasty. But Tharoor may have grown tired of doing so. By leading the parliamentary delegation, he signaled that he was willing to put India above the interests of a half-Italian Dynast. What has enabled him to do so is his own good work as a constituency MP. Also his oratory and numerous books and articles are lapped up by young people aspiring to join the Civil Service or to get ahead in Corporate India.  

What lesson does the Emergency teach? The answer is that South Korean type export-led industrialization was feasible for India. Sadly, haut bourgeois Dynasts don't understand why poor people need this to happen as soon and as fast as possible. The other side of the coin of a dynastic, patrimonial state, is a superstitious belief in paternalistic laws which, supposedly, protect the proletariat and the peasantry from the rapacious mercantile class. Did you know that many of these 'bazaari' types can't even speak English with a posh accent? Also some of them are Hindoooos. They worship cows and snakes and elephants. It is obvious that they can't understand Socialism or Secularism or Democracy because they didn't even get an MPhil from Cambridge. That is why we must be very vigilant against those Fascists. Kindly read my next thirteen books which I will be publishing tomorrow, so as to fully grasp the importance of this.