NEW DELHI: Union Minister Arun Jaitley in his concluding post on his recollections of the imposition of Emergency wondered how could the followers of Lohiya and Nehru work together in the long run amid talks of Opposition unity around the Congress in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Stating that Ram Manohar Lohiya’s legacy was carried forward by anti-Congress leaders like Madhu Limye, George Fernandes, and Raj Narain, Jaitley sought to contrast the attempts of the inheritors of the socialist politics to do business with the Congress. “Today that legacy had been inherited by Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) in Uttar Pradesh and Nitish Kumar (JD (U)) in Bihar. The anti-Congressism is visible in both the leaders. But the party formed by Yadav is also willing to do business with the Congress,” Jaitley noted.
Incidentally, both Kumar and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had struck pre-poll electoral alliances with the Congress in 2015 and 2017 state polls.
“I have always serious doubts whether those who represent the DNA of Lohiya and Nehru can in the long run even work together,” Jaitley opined in his three-parts concluding article.
In a parting shot, while concluding his recollections of the imposition of Emergency, Jaitley also noted: ”Though I believe it is impossible for anyone in India to repeat the Emergency, as the famous advice goes that democracy lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no Constitution can save it and no judge can protect it.”
The minister rued that the most disturbing observation of the Emergency was that when the Central government turned dictatorial, the entire system caved in. “The Supreme Court became subservient, the media became sycophantic,” he added, while sharing comment of L K Advani about media that “when asked to bend, you chose to crawl”.
“Two lakh false FIRs were registered and hardly any police officers stood up to protest. Thousands of detention orders were passed when there were no grounds of detention. Hardly any collector refused to sign an illegal detention order,” added Jaitley.