Emergency turned democracy into constitutional dictatorship: Jaitley
New Delhi, June 24: Union minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday recalled how the Indira Gandhi government had imposed a "phoney Emergency" and "turned democracy into a constitutional dictatorship" about more than 40 years back.
"It was a 'phoney emergency' on account of proclaimed policy that Indira Gandhi was indispensable to India and all contrarian voices had to be crushed," Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post titiled "The Emergency Revisited" - Part-I - the Circumstances Leading to the Imposition of Emergency.
"The constitutional provisions were used to turn democracy into a constitutional dictatorship," he added.
The Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975 on account of internal disturbances leading to suspension of the fundamental rights.
Noting that on the midnight of June 25/26, a fresh proclamation was got signed by the President on a state of internal emergency, he said that "simultaneously with the proclamation under Article 352 ,another proclamation under Article 359 was issued suspending the fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. Every Indian was now devoid of this fundamental right."
On his own role then, he said he was the first "Satyagrahi" against the Emergency.
"I led a protest of Delhi University Students where we burnt effigy of the Emergency and I delivered a speech against what was happening.
"The police had arrived in large number. I got arrested only to be served a detention order under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. I was taken to Delhi's Tihar Jail...
"I thus got the privilege for organising the only protest on the morning of June 26, 1975 and became the first Satyagrahi against the Emergency," he said, adding that "little did I realize that at a young age of 22 years, I was participating in events which were going to be a part of history. For me this event changed the future course of my life..."
Terming 1971 and 1972 high points in the political career of Indira Gandhi, he said that she had challenged the senior leaders of her own party and a grand alliance of opposition party to win the 1971 general elections to become "the key centre of political power for the next five years".
However, listing her mistakes, Jaitley said: "She botched up the nationalisation of wheat trade (subsequently reversed) to tackle the unmanageable inflation. It led to greater inflation. This led to social and trade union unrest where large number of man-days were lost."
Noting that while the first oil shock had already had an adverse impact, the US, "due to its tilt towards Pakistan", suspended a lot of aid to India and inflation in 1974 "touched a staggering 20.2 percent and reached 25.2 percent in 1975".
"Labour laws were made more stringent and these led to a near economic collapse. There was large scale unemployment and the unprecedented price rise," he said, adding that investment in the economy had taken a back seat, and then the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was enacted.
Noting that the government with a huge electoral mandate at the Centre and the states, continued in the same unviable economic directions which she had experimented in the late 1960s, Jaitley said: "The tragedy of Mrs. Indira Gandhi's politics was she preferred the popular slogans over sound and sustainable policies."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
