"Opening the lock-up door, they came in. I was sitting. I got up.
One of them came and asked:
'What's your name?'
'Vijayan', I said.
'What Vijayan?'
'Pinarayi Vijayan'
The two of them stood on both sides.
I said 'Pinarayi Vjiayan'. One of them repeated after me 'Oh...Pinarayi Vijayan!' Saying this, the first blow was dealt. The first round saw the two of them beating me up. They may perhaps have thought that just the two of them beating me up wasn't enough. A large contingent of cops stood next to the lock-up. Later, three of them, including a CI, came in; making a total of five.
Do I have to narrate the nature of the assault?
Anyone who's familiar with Kerala can guess well enough. Five of them beat me up in all possible ways; I kept falling and getting up... many a time, at many a stage.
Even as they kept up the assault, they repeatedly yelled: 'So you talk against the officers? Against ministers?' In between, blows kept raining. I fell down several times, got up again and again... whenever I could; finally it came to a stage where I could longer get up; I was totally crushed.
Once they realized that I could no longer stand up, they started to stamp me relentlessly, as much as they could. It was just the five of them. This lasted for 15 - 20 minutes, till they were exhausted. Then they left.
I remained motionless on the floor till the next day. By this time, my shirt, dhoti and vest were gone. Only the drawers (undergarment) remained. This is what I underwent in that lock-up!"
… thus goes the chilling tale of a brutal custodial torture that a young Kerala legislator, who would four decades later become the state Chief Minister, underwent in a police lockup. A horrifying account of government brutalities and inhuman treatment during the Emergency, the narrative continued:
"This is my experience. Let me say something to all the members of this House. We are all politicians. We engage in various arguments as part of various sections. But is it part of politics to allow someone to be taken to the police station to be brutally tortured in a police lockup? Is this politics?
...Is this political morality? I want to hence tell the members of this assembly: We are all politicians. We argue for different parties; But we should not try to politically cash in on such things. It wouldn't auger well for anyone. I don't believe any of you would approve of such acts.
I have just one thing to tell Mr Karunakaran. We have made many strong statements, said many things; we would continue to do so. I have mentioned this in my letter to Sri Achuthamenon.
Nobody can prevent such statements. Isn't politics all about this?
In the Communist party alone, innumerable people have undergone such brutalities and sufferings.
Aren't there several who died in police lockup?
Those who led agitations and were shot down?
Stabbed to death and gunned down by bullets?
We continue in this party, aware of all this. We know anything can happen to us at any moment. Knowing fully well what's in store for us, we continue to work for this party....
If you believe you can beat us through suppression, you are wrong. It may decline for a moment, but will soon come back more fiercely; This is all I want to tell Karunakaran. This doesn't auger well. This is not politics; it’s not decency. Today you are the chief minister. Are you attempting a repeat? Are you letting the police have their own way?"
This telling Emergency tale unfolded in front of the legislators comprising both Right and Left wing leaders, who listened with rapt attention. The young leader was in his element, and spoke for long. He finally concluded thus: "I want to tell Sri Karunakaran. This is politics. We shall say what we want to; that too in a strong voice. If you think you can silence us with police action, it won't happen. The mass movement in this country has faced several such actions in the past. Sri Karunakaran should remember the fate of ministers who unleashed violence using the police. You should remember how such people ended up; that’s all I want to say!"
The evocative account left even those in the rival political camp shuddering. The archives of the Kerala legislative assembly have dedicated close to five pages to record the fiery speech of the then Kuthuparamba MLA Pinarayi Vijayan during the discussion on the vote on account on March 30, 1977. The detailed account covers how he was taken into custody on September 28, 1975 from his residence. Vijayan served a jail term of one-and-a-half years.
It's 50 years since the dark age of the Emergency dawned on Indian politics. On a day when Indian democracy was taken to ransom, Kerala too put up a strong resistance. A slew of leaders including Kerala's first Chief Minister EMS Namdoodiripad, Communist veterans from EK Nayanar to VS Achuthanandan, and right-wing leaders like O Rajagopal and K Raman Pillai went behind bars.
There were local leaders like Sarathchandrababu, the then CPM Petta branch secretary, who was taken into custody the very day Emergency was declared.
The 24-member student protest on July 1, arguably the first of its kind in the state, is already part of the state's political folklore. Since agitations were not permitted, it was after much secret deliberation and planning that the students came together. One by one, they trickled into the University College. A march was taken out from the Spencer gate to the Secretariat.
"The police were blissfully ignorant even after the march passed via Spencer Junction and AG's office. The sudden move took the authorities by surprise. We kept raising slogans such as 'Emergency in Arabian Sea!'. Passersby were intrigued, while KSRTC buses plying on the route stopped to take a look. As we were about to reach the Velu Thampy statue, the police rounded us up and took us into custody," recalled senior CPM leader and ex-speaker M Vijayakumar.
Umpteen chronicles of police brutality have been recorded from those times. There were also unsung heroes like Kunnukuzhi Manoharan, the first accused in the reportedly first-ever major protest against the Emergency in Kerala, held on July 10, 1975.
Speaking to The New Indian Express on the 30 minutes of khaki-clad brutality he underwent, Manoharan shuddered as he relived the trauma. "I was made to lie on my stomach. One of the policemen used the edge of his lathi to beat me on the spine, while another kicked me with his boot. Yet another was punching me with an iron-piece covered in a cloth; I was shaking with pain... they didn't stop," he couldn't go on.
Of the thousands who took to the streets against the Emergency in Kerala, only very few are still alive. A couple of associations of Emergency victims have been formed in the state. They have time and again approached both the state and Union governments, seeking to accord them the status of freedom fighters.
Another long-standing demand of some of the victims has deeper significance. Most of the police brutalities during the Emergency occurred at the five torture camps set up at Kakkayam, Maloorkunnu, Edappally, Oottupura and Sasthamangalam. Of these, the one in Thrissur district was later turned into an IG office. Three others were destroyed. The victims want the sole remaining camp at Sasthamangalam to be preserved as a historic relic, to keep the haunting memories of a dark period alive among future generations.
Millennials and Gen Z may find it hard to even fathom the extent of subjugation that Emergency inflicted upon political Kerala. Even as debates and social media currently rant over political affiliations during the Emergency - whether the Communists joined hands with the Saffronites or not - the quivering tales of torture often go unheard.
'Emergency in Arabian Sea!' was a slogan raised across the length and breadth of Kerala during those days. Tens of thousands were arrested, illegally detained, imprisoned and brutally tortured.
The infamous Rajan case, where an young engineering student was killed in custody at the Kakkayam concentration camp, remains the darkest chapter of Emergency in Kerala politics.
The eerie silence of the then Chief Minister C Achutha Menon and the political class over Rajan's fate provides a grim reflection of the apathy of those in power. That the then home minister K Karunakaran, who later became the Chief Minister, had to step down following the controversy is a sobering tale for another day. The searing query of Rajan's father Eachara Warrier -- 'Why are you making my child stand in the rain?' -- continues to berate Kerala's socio-political psyche to this day.
