New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) - Fifty years ago, the Indira Gandhi-led government imposed a state of Emergency that lasted 21 months, characterized by censorship of the press, arrests of journalists, and forced mergers of news agencies to control public discourse.
Government data reveals that over 200 journalists who resisted aligning with the government's narrative during the Emergency, as declared by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed at Gandhi’s direction, were jailed alongside opposition leaders.
In a dramatic move, the government merged four major news agencies—Press Trust of India, United News of India, Hindustan Samachar, and Samachar Bharti—into a singular entity named 'Samachar', said M K Razdan, former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of PTI.
Razdan recalled stringent scrutiny over news reporting, with an IPS officer in the Press Information Bureau ensuring that pro-government reports dominated the newspapers.
Journalists were coerced into providing favorable coverage of Sanjay Gandhi and his coercive family planning initiatives, including forced sterilization, while opposition-related stories were minimized to a couple of paragraphs, Razdan noted.
Veteran journalist S Venkat Narayan reminisced about his tenure as the Editor of 'Onlooker' magazine during the Emergency, detailing how he was required to submit manuscripts to the chief censor, Harry D'Penha of the Press Information Bureau, for approval before publication.
Editors like Kuldip Nayar of the Indian Express and K R Malkani of 'The Motherland' found themselves imprisoned for publishing reports sympathetic to the opposition leader Jayaprakash Narayan and critical accounts surrounding the Gandhis.
The Navajivan Press, founded by Mahatma Gandhi, had its printing assets confiscated, while 'Himmat', a weekly edited by his grandson Rajmohan Gandhi, was penalized with a significant monetary deposit due to objectionable reporting.
Narayan, who was affiliated with The Sunday Times in London at the time, drew the ire of H Y Sharada Prasad, Gandhi's information adviser, due to a book review that described the Prime Minister’s domineering relations with her Cabinet as akin to a headmistress exerting control over school children.
Upon his return to India after a three-month term with The Sunday Times, Narayan was interrogated at the airport by Delhi Police officers, ensuring he was not smuggling any objectionable items into the country, Narayan recounted.
In an attempt to disrupt newspaper operations, the government cut power to newspaper offices on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, leading to potential delays or cancellations of editions on June 26 and 27.
By blocking advertisements for newspapers critical of its policies, the government aimed to financially throttle and manipulate the media landscape.
According to Dharmanand Kamat, who worked with All India Radio in Goa at the time, every newspaper in Goa followed the government’s directive, given that they were owned by industrialists or those connected to the printing trade.
A K Chakraborty, a Delhi correspondent for Nagpur-based daily 'The Hitavada', recounted regular confrontations with Press Information Bureau officials, as clearance from media censors was imperative for publishing each day's edition.
Journalists often faced allegations of tax evasion, imprisonment, shutdown orders for printing presses, and threats of eviction from government housing.
Another governmental measure was regulating newsprint supply to media houses via the Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, curbing the newspapers' circulation.
Gyan Prakash in his book 'Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy’s Turning Point' noted the enactment of the Prevention of Publication of Objectionable Matter Act in February 1976, crafted to curb the printing of any material deemed to incite crime or warrant objection.
Additionally, newspapers received daily censorship directives via phone calls, dictated to prevent the dissemination of content considered unfavorable or embarrassing to the regime.
Warnings were even issued regarding the publication of blank editorials, a tactic used by the Indian Express on June 28, 1975, amidst widespread arrests post-Emergency proclamation.
Razdan reflected on 'Samachar', born from the coerced merger of four news agencies, highlighting how it covered events through a dictated lens. A vast rally by Jayaprakash Narayan at Delhi's Ramlila ground was dismissed in brief, while it was prominently featured in other periodicals.
The Shah Commission of Inquiry later examined the excesses of the Emergency, interrogating Press Information Bureau officials over their roles in media censorship.
L K Advani, serving as the Information and Broadcasting Minister in Morarji Desai’s government, was pivotal in restoring the four dismantled news agencies.
"We regained our independence," Razdan commented, recalling the restoration of press freedom.
Narayan recounted a press conference with Advani in Mumbai, during which Advani’s now-famous remark, "when Mrs. Gandhi asked the media to bend, it crawled," was in response to Narayan's inquiry.
Kamat recollected questioning Gandhi about the Emergency during her campaigning in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections in Goa.
Gandhi, according to Kamat, justified it, asserting, "I have followed the Constitution of India. There is a provision to impose internal and external Emergency. When a person calls the police and the army to revolt against government orders, as the chief of the government, it is my duty to exercise my constitutional powers." She added, "No ruler can tolerate a call to the army and police to revolt against the establishment."
(Only the headline of this report may have been reworked by Editorji; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
