Fifty years after Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency, history is turning a harsher gaze not just on her authoritarian turn but on Jayaprakash Narayan’s fateful alliance with Sangh. Legitimised by JP’s misjudgment, the RSS has wrecked India’s democracy, institutions and political culture.
https://thewire.in/politics/the-emergencys-true-legacy-how-jps-naivety-empowered-the-rss
Sharada Prasad concluded his letter to Natwar Singh with a penetrating observation: “.. the entire operation was necessary to save our political structure. When we speak of our political structure or aims, the leftists speak only of socialism, the Anglo-US-European liberals only of pluralistic democracy, neither group gives much importance to secularism. Secularism is the base of Indian democracy. The cardinal mistake of JP and company was to hand over the controls to RSS and no man in his senses can ever say that an RSS-led opposition front can preserve a system based upon religious tolerance and equality.”
History has already dealt a rough hand to Indira Gandhi for embarking on a dangerous road 50 years ago; what she did during those dark days could be rolled back by the masses. History will deal an equally rough, if not rougher, hand to Jayaprakash Narayan for rehabilitating the RSS as a normal political force. Fifty years later, Indira Gandhi’s excesses pale in comparison to JP’s cardinal sin. The RSS is the only winner of that battle five decades ago.
Harish Khare
25/06/2025