Haryana Governor Shri Bandaru Dattatraya, while recalling the memories of the Emergency which was imposed in the country on June 25, 1975, on Tuesday said that "when on the morning of June 26, people came to know that the government has imposed an Emergency in the country, there was an atmosphere of chaos in the whole country.
He said that during that time I was a Pracharak of RSS. Many people were arrested in the country in the name of emergency. Big leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Morarji Desai, LK Advani, George Fernandes and many other leaders were arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA)."
The Governor said that "on the morning of June 26, when I went out for a tour, I found that the police were coming to search our office. I left from there but I did not know where to go. If I went to the house of any Sangh worker, police surveillance was imposed there too.
In such a situation, I was informed that everyone would have to work underground. So, I decided that instead of wearing kurta pajama, I would wear a pant-shirt. I immediately wore a pant-shirt of a lawyer named Bhupak Reddy and went to another state. After going there, I came to know that leaders have been arrested in the whole country.
Censorship has been imposed in the whole country. No one could give any other news except government news on TV and newspapers. The whole country was tied up like a prison." He revealed that "in normal circumstances, we used to go from village to village and do the work of organization building.
Then we had identified some places where I started living after changing my name. I had changed my name to Shailendra. Due to censorship, no correct news used to come in newspapers or TV. We could not know what was happening in the country and the state.
Therefore, a movement was started in the name of Lok Sangharsh Samiti. Under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, we used to get news from Delhi to Hyderabad. A circular used to come from Delhi, which had to be printed and sent to all the states and distributed to all the workers and social workers.
During this time, I was arrested and put in Chanchalguda jail in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh. In the jail, I was repeatedly asked how and from where I get this bulletin; who sends it and where do you get the money for it. The DSP used to ask me questions about this repeatedly. Despite their threats I did not tell them anything.
I was threatened with an electric shock but I refused to say anything." Governor Shri Bandaru Dattatraya said that "I was from a very poor family. My mother Smt. Eshwaramma used to sell onions in Osmanganj. During the Emergency, my elder brother Manik Prabhu died.
At that time, I was given parole from the jail. After attending the funeral, I was again put in jail. To get me out of jail, my maternal uncle Anjappa, his friend was Hyderabad Mayor Lakshmi Narayan and my maternal uncle’s friend was an MLA named L Narayan.
All of them came to my mother and said that we will get your son out of jail. You are facing so much difficulty. You go to your son and take an undertaking, saying that I have made a mistake and I will not make such a mistake again. Then my mother asked him what mistake has my son made?
My son is working for the country and society. My mother asked him whether my son had committed theft? Has he kidnapped a girl or has he done something else wrong? I don't think he will give any such undertaking. Such was the sentiment of my mother."
The Governor said that "my mother came to meet me in jail; my mother told me that my uncle has asked me to bring an undertaking, then I asked her what did you reply to him, then my mother told me: “I told her that my son will not do this.” I was very happy to hear this. A CID officer used to sit outside. That officer was also listening to us carefully. He sent that news to the government."
Shri Dattatraya said that "according to the Constitution of our country, those who were supposed to run the country, those people had turned the country into a prison. My mother and my family members were given a lot of trouble. We can never forget the scene of Emergency in which our fundamental rights were abolished and democracy was thrown into darkness."
He said that "I want to pay my respects to Late Shri Goenka ji, the head of The Indian Express at that time, for the work he did in The Indian Express and our Telugu newspaper Andhra Prabha during the Emergency. I liked the newspaper he sent with great courage and bravery. Similarly, some big lawyers of the Supreme Court also struggled a lot."
"In a democracy, everyone has equal rights, whether poor, rich, minister or any other common citizen. Everyone should have equal rights. One should protect the Constitution and behave with utmost freedom. I also suffered a lot for one year. I was in jail for one year. There were people from all parties in the jail.
We learnt a lot in jail. Our Lok Sangharsh Samiti leader Jai Prakash Narayan struggled selflessly. I still remember all those people. Such an Emergency should never be imposed again. I will only say this much about the Emergency: “Emergency is the darkest period in Indian history.”