From declared emergency to undeclared emergency
Country is remembering those dark days of emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The very memory of those days is to uphold the significance of democracy. We need to go through this memory only to remind ourselves that the nation needn’t witness those uncertain days again.
Even if the ‘dictator’ is our own, we should follow him like meek sheep. One of the most renowned poets refers to this time in his works and says ‘how does it matter whether the sword was our own or was a foreign one?’ The memory of this phase should encourage us to strengthen the democracy further. There is no point in using this premise to just criticize a particular party.
Indira Gandhi does not signify emergency alone. Her strengths stretch beyond this dark phase too. Her contribution in strengthening India cannot be refuted. Land tenancy act and nationalisation of banks were some bold decisions she took to help the lowest strata of the society. She earned the wrath of the upper castes, rich and powerful in the meantime. If Indira Gandhi is just remembered for emergency alone like the BJP likes to project, why did people bring her back to power with a resounding victory?
It’s a very opportunist politics to project her as the architect of emergency alone, restricting her to Congress party and criticize her alone. It is important to remember the context in which emergency was imposed on the country, and the negative effects it created. Congress and RSS both organisations have reaped rich benefits of this phase. Many reports indicated RSS was also hand in glove with attacks on muslims during this time. The cons should be taken into cognizance in the context of not allowing this phase to repeat again.
Senior most leader of BJP L K Advani who had gone to jail during the dark times, has said in the past that this country is on the threshold of facing another emergency-like situation. He was referring to the current happenings in BJP. Another senior BJP leader who quit the party in Rajasthan, said he would fight against the ‘undeclared emergency’ in the country. BJP ally Shivasena is also speaking the same language. We need to remember during emergency, the freedom of expression was curtailed. Journalists and opposition party leaders were jailed. The people at lowest strata in the society never felt the heat of this time. The upper class people misused this term to their benefit. Muslims were attacked. The poor never understood what exactly was transpiring in the country. Including Karnataka, many states implemented land tenancy act during this time. But one can never defend this highly venomous act against small benefits.
The BJP leaders are criticizing emergency phase in strongest of terms. They must remember what happened in our own country during demonetization. People had to stand in queue before banks and ATMs to draw their own hard earned money. Some even died waiting in these queues. This step had a massive negative effect on rural India and people are still living through the ill effects of this time. Did this make sense in any form? No one can defend this either. Demo led to major benefits to the rich and miseries to the poor. RBI suffered losses. BJP became the richest party. Farmers today cannot sell livestock according to their preference. This situation didn’t exist even during emergency, per se.
Just the way as groups had attacked random people during emergency due to breakdown of law and order, Gau Rakshaks are attacking people and cattle traders. Farmers who care for cattle are victims of higher crimes committed against them. Hence today when we speak, we need to keep in context the new situation that’s almost on par with the old days of emergency. Dark and vulnerable indeed. Journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered during this time and another media agency NDTV has been under continuous attack for its stance since the recent days. We may well refer to the past, but the new days of almost emergency are here for all of us to see. We need to devise a plan to face this and register out opposition in strong terms.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
