Reminders of Indira Gandhi imposed emergency-era not an Achilles' heel for Congress

NEW DELHI: BJP veteran LK Advani’s veiled swipe at the Modi government, amid the ‘LaMo’ crisis facing the regime, further blunted the party’s yearly political jamboree aimed at reminding the Congress of its dark days when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in June 1975, and at keeping alive the embers of larger anti-Congress politics.

Advani had in an interview cautioned that he fears a repeat of Emergency. His "June tribute" to the memory of Emergency struggle is of a piece with the jinx that the BJP has faced during the month in recent years (see chart) that has been gifting Congress talking points. Much to the chagrin of the anti-congress politicians, the annual reminder of Emergency era has become less of a political Achilles heel for Congress over the years and serves at best as a fading sense of discomfort at a past guilt.

In the 38 years since the lifting of Emergency and Indira Gandhi’s poll defeat, the Congress has ruled India alone or through a coalition for 22 years under four prime ministers, indicating that the party has come a long way since 1977. In the remaining 13 years, too, Congress-supported governments (under Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda, IK Gujral) ruled the country for four years, leaving only eight years for truly anti-Congress governments under VP Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Narendra Modi.

Whenever confronted with the reminders of the episode, Congress often recalls how "Indira Gandhi herself had apologised for Emergency and how people voted her back". Further, the twovolume "Congress — Making of India" commissioned by the party was upfront in candidly admitting the mistake of imposing Emergency and its excesses.

Two more factors helped the Congress thwart the opposition’s bid to gang up on the anti-Emergency plank. For most Indians born after 1977, Emergency is just a subject of history or political folklore. Also, three events since then — demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, Gujarat riots in 2002 and now Modi-led resurgent BJP — have changed Indian politics from anti-Congressism to anti-BJP, prompting many of Advani’s fellow anti-Emergency fighters such Samajwadi factions and CPM to tactically align with Congress and distance from BJP.