Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 25 : Senior journalist Rajat Sharma, who was jailed for 10 months during the Emergency, recalled the "dark night" when it was imposed and senior political leaders arrested, the struggles he endured and his attempts to keep up the flame of democracy and flow of information by bringing out a "cyclostyled newspaper" that was then delivered to homes of people.
In an interview with ANI, Rajat Sharma recalled being part of Jayaprakash Narayan's student protest. The senior journalist, who is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of INDIA TV, recounted facing police sticks after arrest but not having fear in his mind.
"I still remember that particular dark night almost 50 years ago when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency to save her chair. We were all a part of Jayaprakash Narayan's student protest. We got to know that all big leaders of the country, including Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prakash Singh Badal, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Raj Narayan, LK Advani, all of them were arrested and sent to different places in the country, like Ambala, Rohtak, Bengaluru," Rajat Sharma said.
"Our leader at the University was Arun Jaitley. He was the president of DUSU. When police reached his residence, his father helped him escape. I was just 17 years old and was a student of 1st year at the University. When Arun ji reached the University, he was unaware that the police were after him and that he shouldn't go to the university. We took out a procession in the University and raised slogans of 'Tanashahi Murdabad', 'hamare netaao ko riha karo'. Our university had a coffee house, and Arunji was giving us a speech by climbing on a table. We saw the police approaching us to arrest us," he added.
Rajat Sharma said the Station House Officer (SHO) was a friend "to us all and whispered to us to leave the place".
"We all left the place, but Arun Jaitley was arrested as the person on whose scooter he was to go, had left. He was sent to a jail in Ambala. Vijay Goyal and I were together and late in the night we got to know that we would not receive newspapers tomorrow because censorship had been imposed, and there was no freedom of expression. Doordarshan and All India Radio were under the government. We had no resources for the news. We got to know through the BBC that Emergency had been imposed in the country. Later, Indira Gandhi announced the Emergency on All India Radio," he added.
Sharma recalled how he and his friend Vijay Goyal, a BJP leader, brought out the cyclostyled newspaper named 'Mashaal'
"For two days, we kept moving, sleeping at shops and houses. The police were searching for us at our homes. Because of censorship, people were unaware of the events in the country. I and Vijay Goel decided that we would release a cyclostyled newspaper and named it 'Mashaal'. I used to write news with my hands. We used to write that our leaders are in jail and about strikes and put this cyclostyled paper in the houses of the people," he said.
Rajat Sharma said he was caught after the police raided the place from where they brought out the cyclostyled newspaper.
"Vijay Goyal ran away, but I was caught and was sent to jail. The police handcuffed me. The police tied me and beat me. They beat me up with sticks.... I was bleeding. They were also questioning me and asking me about the whereabouts of Vijay Goyal," he said.
"The police told me 'You have no legal rights' and we can shoot you right here'". But there was no fear in my mind because we had been in protests earlier..."
"The next day, I was sent to a Magistrate, who did not listen to my plea. The only thing I was sad about was that outside the Tis Hazari Court, my father was present among the people outside. Even though he wanted to come and meet me, the police wouldn't allow that," Rajat Sharma recalled.
He said when he was brought to Tihar jail, he was sent to the teenager ward, known as 'Munda Khana', instead of the political ward, as he was 17.
"It could accommodate four but there were 12 people there. Some of them, I learnt, were there because of theft or murder cases...Two days later, I was sent to the political ward. Those two days were very painful. I thought it was my end. I used to hear all sorts of things that frightened me, I used to feel scared but but I did not lose hope," said Sharma.
He said criminals used to say things like all the people in the prison would be taken to the Siberian desert through an aircraft and would be left there and that Indira Gandhi would make all the prisoners taken to the middle of the ocean in a ship and drown them.
The Emergency, imposed on June 25, 1975, by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, lasted for 21 months and is remembered for severe restrictions on civil liberties, censorship of the press, and the arrest of political opponents.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday observed a two-minute silence to pay tributes to those whose constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights were taken away and who were then subjected to "unimaginable horrors" during the Emergency.
The Union Cabinet paid tributes to their exemplary courage and valiant resistance to the Emergency's excesses.
Briefing reporters after a meeting of Union Cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that a resolution was adopted on 50 years of Proclamation of Emergency.
The Indira Gandhi government had imposed the Emergency on June 25, 1975. The day is observed by the government as 'Samvidhan Hatya Divas'The meeting of the Union Cabinet was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Union Cabinet resolved to commemorate and honour the sacrifices of countless individuals who valiantly resisted the Emergency and its attempt "at subversion of the spirit of the Indian Constitution, a subversion which began in 1974 with a heavy-handed attempt at crushing the Navnirman Andolan and Sampoorna Kranti Abhiyan".
"The year 2025 marks 50 years of the Samvidhan Hatya Diwas - an unforgettable chapter in the history of India where the Constitution was subverted, the Republic and democratic spirit of India was attacked, federalism was undermined, and fundamental rights, human liberty and dignity were suspended," the resolution said.