Remaking India. The years of upheval,1975-1985

Going back to 'India Today' publication! 

1975 to 1985 were called the 'The years of upheval'.

"INDIA TODAY'S first decade is bracketed by tyranny and tragedy......A period marked by the personality who ruled the country for nearly sixteen years altogether: a story of triumph and persistence - but also a cautionary tale. And a reminder that no political leader embodies this country's destiny or control its narrative indefinitely."

"The 1975-1985 is also a story of resilience..."

Wonder why 'who ruled the longest' is more important than 'how they ruled'. An ongoing debate. However, you  are only expected to be either a bhakth or hater. Other points of view are  considered irrelevant. 

It is disappointing, when one says 'Modi should go', just  because he was not formally educated. Let us remember that an uneducated K.  Kamaraj was considered a 'probable' PM candidate after Nehru! Oh yes, it was the Time magazine which said it. 

Let's go back in time, and recall  the story of Ekalava. He was self-taught and was equal  or a better skilled archer than Arjuna. 

Impressive that India Today began its journey during the emergency. The first issue was titled  'The Emergency: Now You See It, Now You Don’t'. A fascinating title. 

 Foreign papers asking 'Where is the emergency' was a good question! 

I do not remember emergency in so much detail. I had just changed my job and was busy settling down. 

The workers attitude did change for the better! One of them even said that he trusted the Nehru family. As they were well-off and were not after money. 

I too benefitted, as the transfer of ownership of an apartment I had bought went  smoothly at the municipal office. The clerk who handed me the transfer papers  mentioned that normally there was a 'mamool' charge for such work! He didn't dare to demand it. So I didn't pay!

The dark days:

Eventually we did get to hear about the ugly aspects of the emergency. The imprisonment of opposition leaders and citizens suspected of being against the ruling government. The control of news. Forced sterilization and botched procedures causing many deaths. Sanjay Gandhi's urban renewal resulting in demolition with bulldozers! "An eerie preview of the 'excesses' of later eras."??

I remember the shock expressed by a friend who had lived in Delhi about the rise of Sanjay Gandhi, to become the defacto ruler of India during emergency. 

From what I heard about his behavior, he would have been a source of worry, especially to the parents of the young!

The June 1978 cover story on Sanjay Gandhi confirms this fear.  "....He would show up in court, surrounded by his praetorian guard, 'goons' we called them because they behaved as such.

I do hope the young generation read the stories of  'the emergency'  and learn. Especially the present generation who are seeking drastic changes! 

The inference,  "And a reminder that no political leader embodies this country's destiny or control its narrative indefinitely"  sounds hopeful and that the losers will accept their loss gracefully. 

My view is that India is heading  towards a 'feudal dynastic rule' in the garb of a democracy. Hope to find answers as I continue to read this special issue on Remaking India. 

Independent India, period 1947 to 1975. First few years.

The India Today has brought out a special edition, "Remaking India - Fifty years of India Today" The period covered is from 1975 to 2025. It is very timely! Browsing through, it took me further  back in time! 

We appear to be at a cross-road. Perhaps we are there all the time and we need to take a look at ourselves as countrymen. 

I was nine years old when India got its independence, year 1947. The memory of its celebration has stayed with me! I remember my father getting all excited about the coming independence day on the 15th of August. Especially keen to hear Pandit Nehru's midnight/early morning braodcast. Tryst with destiny of the new nation, on its 'first' day of Independence. He purchased a Radio, and when he tried it out, the reception wasn't that good. It was a small radio and the tuning was not precise. He rushed back to the shop, exchanged it for a better model.

I did not hear Pandit Nehru speak. I and my sister Srilatha were in Madras on that day. Our neighbors Vasudeva Rao and Lalithamma took us along with them to Madras. Very nice of them, considering I was nine and Srilatha was six years old! We stayed with my father's cousin.

Everything was new for us. I do remember the illumination on the ships docked on the port celebrating the day.  We played on the smooth sands of Marina beach. But the sight of small fish struggling in a basket was disrurbing!

Our uncle was friendly! However, we did not enjoy being teased by his son, my cousin! We were about the same age. He constantly made fun of our Kannada mixed Tamil. Srilatha, spoke up when uncle Vasudeva Rao dropped in after a couple of days. A courtsey call! She went to him immediately and said, 'I want to stay with you!' Vasudeva Rao then spoke to my uncle softly in fluent Tamil. After a while, we were  told to pick up our small bags and we went along with him to his relatives home. We had a good time at their place. 

It does prove 'Language' can and does become an issue! 

Back in Bangalore, I walked around our area with a friend. He had heard and we did see that many Muslim homes were empty in our area. Curious we peeped into the closeby Mosque. An elderly person came out asked us in kannada ' why are you here'. When we said we just wanted to see, he said very gently it was not the right time and better if we didn't visit! Another older friend explained that many had opted to go to Pakistan. He added, it was created by the British before they left India! I do not remember any mention of violence! 

We had just visited Sundarbans and had seen a village close to Bangladesh border. I wondered  how it was for them on that momentous day. I did not ask, but googled to check!

Yes, immense violence occurred on the day of Indian independence due to the concurrent Partition of India.

While the broader movement utilized largely non-violent resistance and civil disobedience, the actual transition of power on August 15, 1947, triggered catastrophic communal riots.It was shocking that people who had lived in the same place together attacked and killed those who were suddenly declared as a minority. Doesn't speak much about our human values.

Possibly leaders just let it go believing other options would make it worse.  A system was set up to deal with the  refugee influx. It appears most just blanked it out from their memories and tried to cope with the immediate challenges they faced.  The communal problems were there and still persists! We have seen it can be stoked up whenever it gets into someone's head and the person has the influence! So 'Tryst' with our destiny continues. 

The British had thoughtfully left their dwellings as it is, which our leaders occupied. The Armed forces, though divided was still intact. The well trained beaureaucrats were there too. The transition could have been  smooth. But, alas it was not to be.

The Brits gave us their language, taught us whatever they felt could be useful to them. It is claimed they even taught us corruption! They stole a lot from us, obviously! However they gifted us an 'excuse'! We could always blame them for anything that went wrong!

 It is no brainer that the idea of 'non-cooperation' was the best gift. We bestowed ourselves with it! We can take recourse to it, whenever we are unable to debate  reasonably! 

While we became free, the country was poor! Not all our countrymen were poor! 

Anyway I had my own challenges, I was in middle school, studying in Kannada medium. In High school I would be studying in an English medium. The British were gone, but English remained. Nothing wrong with it! 

We were not sensible, anyway it was complicated! Just imagine, the barristers and others who knew English,  chosen to steer the country, took some arbitratary decisions! If they could learn English from the British, and even draft a constitution. Where was the need for a common Indian language, based on Majority?? 

We could have taught all Indians to read English! Our literacy was 18.3 just percent at the time of independence.  

Even after our idedpendence, the well healed learnt English and others were left behind. It is debatable, I wish the debate had taken place in the early years! So we have language problem. Think how smartly Singapore solved it. 

We have indeed taken the right steps ! Need to find how many actually use the facility in Parliament and Assembly !

• Scheduled Languages: Parliament allows members to speak in any of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule 
• prescribed the regional languages, Hindi, and English as the languages to be generally used in the State Legislature. 

We have other issues too!