A Second Reign of Terror

  ‘The reign of terror’ reminds us of a cruel history of France and the most fatal incidents of historical France. Let us look at a turn of events in India which took place in the 20th century. For this, we need to go back to Indira Gandhi’s tenure, an exceedingly eminent member of the Indian National Congress. We come to know that Indira’s position became higher and higher, once she stepped into the field of politics. Starting from as the personal assistant and hostess of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, also the first prime minister of India, she ended her career as the prime minister of the Indian subcontinent.

By surfing on the internet and reading several books, we often conclude that the only lady prime minister of India was a good and successful descendent of her father. However, should we not look at the other side of politics, also called the passion of power? All of us are aware about the ‘emergency’ declared in India. Independent India had not encountered any such event before and, consequently, the whole country was in a state of chaos. Unfortunately, at that time, many of us did not notice what was going around. There was something fishy.

Coming to the point, I would like to say that it is a matter of shame for the nation that many of us, living in the country and studying the history of the prosperous India, do not know that a second reign of terror took place in India itself. In the flashback, we can see that a time came in the 20th century when all the main leaders and newspaper editors and the essential ministers of all parties except for the Congress’ were imprisoned. What was the reason that made Indira Gandhi do this? It was, actually, the passion of power. Elections were heading their way in full swing and that was the time when Gandhi was losing power. I propose that it was due to this reason, she called an emergency.

I would conclude here saying that, although we have a right to nationalism as an integral part of our Constitution, but if ignorance to some national information is not violating the right to nationalism, I must say that drafting of the Constitution was a waste of time.