The Paradox of Democracy !!
On July 22, 1975 - Indira Gandhi obliged her critics. But as a consummate politician by then; she knew the art of doing so. Hardly a month after imposition of Emergency; she told Parliament ---
"You have been calling me a Dictator when I was not. Now I am".
Notably, the story with 'dictator' quote was filed by Press Trust of India (PTI) diligently ... but within five minutes the official Censor killed the story.
Within minutes .... PTI sent a 'kill kill' note around India to all its subscribers on teleprinters, recalls an agency old timer R C Rajamani.
Recalling about Emergency; Rajamani (blogger's Guru in more ways than one) --- once said: "Every darker moment has its lighter moment too ... Emergency was a period when an atmosphere of cloak-and-dagger persisted."
However, he would explain that ... Journalists were also targets of punitive action. But, Rajamani said -- "Journalists targeted Netas and authorities making them the butt of their jokes and sarcasm".
There were some illustrations. Four news agencies - PTI, PTI Bhasha (Hindi), UNI and UNI-varta (Hindi) were merged and brought under conglomerate Samachar.
Mayur Vihar's Samachar Apartment in East Delhi is a testimony of that era and especially of that name. Original flat owners were young staffers in news agencies and other media outlets then. But after Emergency was imposed; in early 1976 the four news agencies were merged and Samachar was created. Of course - the 'independence' of journalism was gone.
Samachar started functioning like an official organisation and was often compared with Russian (Soviet Union) agency TASS.
Since 1904 TASS has been Russia's leading news agency.
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| Indira with Rajiv, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka |
In April 1978, one year since Morarji Desai-led Janata Party Govt was in power and L K Advani as the Information and Broadcasting Minister; the Samachar was dismantled. And the joke circulated .... :
Why was Samachar closed and dismantled ?
The response was -- "Because the news reader of All India Radio (AIR) Hindi news bulletin would always ended her/his programme saying - "Samachar Samapt Huye".
There's another fascinating anecdote of that period worth sharing. A mega rally was organised opposition parties (prior to the election that dethroned Indira Gandhi) - the Congress regime had played a game.
Official TV, that's Doordarshan made a smart move what was seen as attempting to keep the crowd indoors. The blockbuster 'Bobby' starring Rishi Kapoor and Dimple was telecast. Nevertheless; the crowd came in large numbers.
Then Babu Jagjivan Ram was a key opposition figure and so the headline in one of the newspapers next day was --
'Babu beats Bobby'.
Bangladesh is in debate yet again. In the mid-seventies; thanks to India's role in splitting Pakistan - the relations between Washington and New Delhi had deteriorated much. The Indira-led dispensation was for obvious reasons at the receiving end of the US policies.
Yet certain peculiarities would happen. This gap was highlighted by CPI leader Indrajit Gupta. In his own words during a parliamentary debate - he slammed 'wooden headed' censors for their stupidity. Gupta's complaint was he wrote a piece in his party mouthpiece against "American imperalism".
But even that expression was removed. The communist leader wondered why such a decision was taken at all. Another key voice and a friend of Chandrashekhar was Mohan Dharia. Winding up his speech; Dharia drew the attention of the House to the presence of a plaque at the entrance of the British House of Commons.
Inscribed in the plaque were the famous words of Voltaire.
"I have greatest detest for your opinion. But I shall fight unto death to preserve your right to utter your opinion".
ends
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