50 Years Of Emergency: An Excerpt From JP Goyal's Saving India From Indira

Saving India from Indira is a lucid and sharp memoir of one of the active participants of the dark era, which is recorded for the benefit of history. This book describes the theatre as it actually unfolded in the words of J.P. Goyal, who played a pivotal role in saving our cherished democracy. Backed by hard facts and reveals unknown details of political leaders associated with the Emergency like J.P., Raj Narain, Piloo Mody, Asoka Mehta, Chandra Shekhar and Biju Patnaik, amongst others.

Here's an excerpt from Saving India from Indira: The Untold Story of Emergency

At a meeting attended by Shri Sanjay Gandhi at Jaipur, the then chief minister of Rajasthan, Shri Harideo Joshi, is said to have collected about 500,000 people for his meeting. According to my information, these were all hired and forced gatherings. It is said that Shri Sanjay Gandhi told his mother, Smt Indira Gandhi, when he reached Delhi that he was now so popular that a vast crowd collected everywhere, and, therefore, if elections were to be held then the Congress party would win. The mother–son duo never realized that Smt Indira Gandhi was isolated from the public, who hated her, and the people were trying to find an opportunity to throw her out.

It was under this misconception that the atmosphere was congenial for her and she would win the elections if they were to take place then that Smt Indira Gandhi dissolved the existing Lok Sabha on 18 January 1977, paving the way for the general elections of 1977.1 Shri Morarji Desai, who was then detained in Karnal Rest House at Tarao in the district of Gurgaon, was released that very day. It was the great luck of the country that four erstwhile Opposition parties, namely the Bharatiya Lok Dal, Jana Sangh, Congress (O) and the Socialist Party of India, came together and merged themselves into one party, namely the Janata Party. Within a few days of the declaration of the elections, Shri Morarji Desai was made the chairman of the Janata Party and a Working Committee was formed. Bit by bit, the Opposition leaders and workers were released from various jails. Shri Raj Narain, however, was released only on 7 February 1977. 

Elections took place in the month of March 1977. People were enthusiastic about the election, which saw lawyers play a very important role. In a conference held in Delhi, the legal fraternity resolved to defeat the Congress party and the Communist Party of India (CPI) at the polls. Five constituencies were considered to be prestigious, those of Smt Indira Gandhi, Shri Sanjay Gandhi, Shri Bansi Lal, Shri H.R. Gokhale and Shri V.C. Shukla, all of whom were considered by the legal community as the main architects of the tyrannical regime during the Emergency. All of them were defeated at the polls by huge margins.

Lawyers from Delhi and other places went to campaign and canvass votes in these constituencies particularly, and also to other constituencies in general. I, along with others, happened to be in the constituency from which the Janata Party candidate Shri Ram Jethmalani was contesting against Shri H.R. Gokhale. There was great enthusiasm and the Janata Party meetings were attended by large numbers of people, whereas the meetings of the Congress party had very thin attendance. The best lot of lawyers also went to Rae Bareli and Amethi from where Shri Raj Narain was contesting against Smt Indira Gandhi and Shri Ravindra Pratap Singh was contesting against Shri Sanjay Gandhi, respectively. I happened to be in both these constituencies for two days along with other lawyers.

On 13 March, Smt Indira Gandhi addressed ten meetings in her constituency. Shri Raj Narain and I went together to Rae Bareli and addressed fourteen meetings. We used to get information from our workers about the meetings addressed by Smt Indira Gandhi and were told that her election meeting in Unchahar was attended by only fifty-five persons, most of whom were her security personnel. It is said that at the last meeting addressed by her at Lalganj, she was so disappointed that she had tears in her eyes. She must have realized that she would lose. Candidates set up by the Janata Party, even if they were considered weak at the beginning of the election campaign, became so strong by the time of the close of the election campaign that everybody felt that success would be with the Janata Party.

THE CONGRESS IS DECIMATED 

When the Janata Party workers and leaders came out of jail they were penniless. There were no funds with the party. There was no organization. It was a people’s election and people arranged everything for themselves. The response was tremendous. In UP, all the eighty-five seats were won by the Janata Party. Similarly, in Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, no seats went to the Congress party. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party got one seat each. In Orissa and Bengal, it got four and three seats, respectively. Thus, in nine states, the Congress party could secure a total of only nine seats in the Lok Sabha. In South India, the Congress party succeeded in getting a vast majority, possibly because the rigours of the Emergency were not fully felt in that region.

On the night of 20 March 1977, the result of the election in the Rae Bareli constituency was declared by the Returning Officer, who was the DM of Rae Bareli. Various attempts were made on Smt Indira Gandhi’s behalf to delay and torpedo the results. An application was filed for recounting and the same was rejected by the Returning Officer. This was followed by yet another application, which was rejected too. I stayed awake throughout that night when the Rae Bareli result was to be announced. To know about and discuss the election results, I contacted people in various cities, including Rae Bareli, where Shri Raj Narain was stationed, to know and discuss the election results. 

When the All India Radio declared the result of the election early next morning, there was great rejoicing all over the country. Smt Indira Gandhi had acted like Bhasmasur and got herself burnt in the elections. She lost personally to Shri Raj Narain in Rae Bareli by 55,250 votes. Shri Raj Narain was later appointed India’s Health Minister in the Janata Party government.

Extracted with permission from Saving India from Indira: The Untold Story of Emergency - Memoirs of J. P. Goyal edited by Rama Goyal; published by Rupa Publications.