Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Lesson from 1975

It was 30 years ago that Emergency (1975-77) was proclaimed. It symbolised arrogance of power. Though Indira Gandhi declared in her first address to the nation thereafter that there was no need to panic, it was panic that the Emergency unleashed on thousands of people. To this date the question that remains unanswered is: how did our democratic order collapse so meekly? To paraphrase a quote, how did Indians, when asked to bend, crawl so easily? The lesson from 1975 is that democracy cannot succeed without constant vigil on the part of the citizenry.

B.S. Ramakrishna,
Bangalore

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