The Approaching Elections

Every year around June 26, on the anniversary of the Emergency imposed in 1975, the present government attempts to highlight the supposed wrongdoings committed at that time. However, the government’s blitz this year was much beyond the normal. Press conferences, govern-ment advertising and Prime Minister Modi’s blasting speech raise the question of just what was so special about this 43rd anniversary. The answer is that we are now less than a year away from the general elections and the onslaught was intended to remind the Opposition parties who are presently attempting to put up a unified fight against the NDA, of the alleged atrocities perpetrated during that period.

Smt Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency in 1975 and it lasted for 21 months. The Emergency was introduced to prevent the moves of the Opposition at that time to destabilise the government and the country. Inder Malhotra, the biographer of Smt Indira Gandhi, wrote: