Nilgiris district collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru inaugurates pruning of rose plants for the 20th Rose Show at Government Rose Garden in 2025
| Photo Credit: SATHYAMOORTHY M

Dr Harsh K Gupta remembers the sequence of events that led to the establishment of Dakshin Gangotri, India’s first permanent research station in Antarctica, as if it happened yesterday. A year after he had moved to Thiruvananthapuram as director of the Centre for Earth Science Studies in 1982, a call for proposals to carry out scientific work in Antarctica was issued, says the renowned earth scientist and seismologist, who led India’s Third Antarctic Expedition between 1983-84 and successfully established Dakshin Gangotri there.

“I am basically a geophysicist, and my expertise is in earthquake seismology. So, I put up a proposal to set up five stations in Antarctica,” says the Hyderabad-based Harsh, a fellow of the International Science Council (ISC), the President of the Geological Society of India and also a member of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India.

He was soon called to make a presentation of his proposal at the Department of Ocean Development (DOD), New Delhi, which, according to him, “everyone liked very much.” However, his proposal was not selected.

Instead, Sayed Zahoor Qasim, the marine biologist who had led India’s very first expedition to Antarctica back in 1981, told him that India was planning to set up a permanent base there and asked him if he was willing to lead the expedition. “My question was why me,” recollects Harsh, on a Zoom call.

In response, he was told he was exactly the sort of person they were looking for to lead the next expedition to Antarctica and also set up a permanent research station there: he was the director of a full-fledged laboratory at only 40 years of age, had an extensive body of work in the Himalayas with an impressive publication record, and was also a good athlete.

Harsh was thrilled with the offer and said yes right away. Soon after, he met with the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. “She was delighted to see that a young man would be the leader of the expedition,” says the Padma Shri awardee, in whose honour South Sudan named its first seismological centre this July.

The task ahead, however, was daunting. India’s Antarctic Programme was only two years old by then, and “no country had, till then, set up a permanent base in Antarctica and populated it in one Antarctic summer, barely two months”, says Harsh, who was excited about the challenge, even though he knew that the odds of success were slim, only 10-15 %.

On December 3, 1983, Harsh and his team set out from Goa aboard the Finnpolaris, a Finnish ice-class cargo ship capable of breaking ice. “Eighty-one families (of the people onboard) were there to bid farewell to us,” he says, adding that once they commenced sea passage, he began brainstorming on how to construct the station in around 30 days, “since out of those 60 days of an Antarctic summer, many would be lost in whiteouts and blizzards.”

Harsh remembers some of the events that took place on that journey: the setting up of a hospital on the ship, which would prove to be exceptionally fortuitous; stopping at Mauritius to pick up material and encountering the rough sea at approximately 40º S latitude (called the “Roaring Forties”), where “almost everyone fell seasick, except Harsh Gupta, because there is something biologically wrong with me,” he quips.

They reached Antarctica in 20-odd days, on December 24 to be precise, and began their construction. Disaster, however, struck on December 29, when one of their Mi-8 helicopters, which was being used to unload the ship, crashed, requiring its occupants to be hospitalised immediately.

Even the Prime Minister called him to check on the situation. “She asked me if I could still do it,” says Harsh, who told her that if he did not do it, he would not return. “There was a long, deafening pause of 40-50 seconds, and she then told me to go ahead.”

And go ahead they did, successfully building a 620-square-meter station complete with living quarters for 12, kitchen, washrooms, gymnasium, water-melt tank, laboratories, generator room housing three generators, and communication facilities by February 25, 1984. This construction, India’s first permanent base there, would go on to shape the future of the country’s Antarctic programme.

In the following few decades, India sent over 40 expeditions to the continent, established two more research stations, and created the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa.

“Over the years, India has done very well in Antarctica, coming up with many firsts. For instance, we have identified more than half the microbes in Antarctica, “ says Harsh, pointing out that India’s Antarctic programme has impacted our weather forecasting to a large extent, illustrating the importance of this research for our country.

The icy continent is crucial to India, Harsh explains, because 180 million years ago, the supercontinent of Gondwanaland, which includes present-day South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, India, Madagascar, and Arabia, began splintering.

“India moved northward and then, about 60 million years ago, collided with Eurasia, giving rise to the Himalayan mountains,” explains Harsh. Between Antarctica and India, he adds, there is mostly only ocean, except for a few small island countries like Mauritius. “Antarctica completely controls the weather of the Indian Ocean, and the Indian Ocean controls the weather of the Indian subcontinent,” says this self-described accidental scientist, who was born in Moradabad and moved to Mussoorie as a child.

“The last thing I ever thought I would be was a scientist,” says Harsh, who studied at Saint George’s College in Mussoorie, an all-boys school where “everyone tried to become an army or naval officer. I, too, went through that drill.”

He recalls walking to and from school, around five kilometres away; the hours spent in NCC training, boxing, hockey, and swimming; and a strict routine that involved going to sleep by 8 pm and waking up at 4 am each day to study before school. “All that toughened me up.” .

While Harsh qualified for the National Defence Academy, his brother-in-law, himself an army officer, discouraged him from joining the armed forces, he says. So, Harsh chose to follow his older brother and study engineering.

His brother had completed a BE in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and was working for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).

“He had joined ONGC and was sent for advanced training to the US; there, he realised that geophysics is a very important area of research and encouraged me to give it as my first choice when I wrote the entrance at the Indian School of Mines (now Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad),” says Harsh. He cleared the exam and joined the institute, which he now thinks was “one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

There was no looking back from there. He went on to work at the Central Seismological Observatory (CSO) at Shillong, where, “once I started looking at the records of the earthquakes, I got glued to them,” says Harsh. He is the author of several research papers, popular articles and over 20 books, including a two-volume Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics, published by Springer, which he compiled and edited.

“Each one is around 1,000 pages, and the best part is that there hasn’t been a single fault found in it so far,” says Harsh, who has developed several earthquake models, made successful earthquake forecasts, and was also instrumental in establishing India’s Tsunami Early Warning System after the 2004 Sumatra earthquake.

Though in his early 80s, he shows no sign of slowing down. “This work is my hobby, and I am very relaxed while I do it. If someone can play the sitar until the age of 95, I can do the same,” says Harsh, who is currently working on developing a framework for how societies can become earthquake-resilient, which he says requires education and awareness as well as a construction paradigm that needs to be thoughtfully created. “If I tell someone on the coming Sunday, at noon, there will be a seven-magnitude earthquake in Delhi, is it possible for everyone to run away?” he asks rhetorically. “So we have to learn to live with earthquakes, and that is my focus today.”

New Delhi:

Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday paid tribute to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Shakti Sthal on her birth anniversary.

Taking to social media X, Rahul Gandhi shared photos from his childhood with Indira Gandhi and wrote in a post how his grandmother Indira Gandhi was an example of courage and love.

“Grandma was an example of both courage and love. It is from her that I have learnt that the real strength is to fearlessly walk on the path of national interest. Her memories are my strength, which always shows me the way,” the post read.

Born on November 19, 1917, to India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru, she served as the first and only woman prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984.

She was the second longest-serving Prime Minister after Nehru and was well-known for path-breaking economic and social reforms, including the nationalisation of banks. She also abolished the privy purses of the erstwhile princely states.

Indira Gandhi, who was hailed as one of the tallest world leaders, was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards at her residence on Akbar Road on October 31, 1984. This came after Operation Bluestar was executed at Amritsar’s Golden Temple, wherein Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to confront Sikh separatists who had taken shelter at the holy shrine.

Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Malikarjun Kharge also paid tribute to Indira Gandhi at the Shakti Sthal in New Delhi.

Taking to X, Mr Kharge wrote in a post that several people took inspiration from the ‘Iron Lady of India’ who was an epitome of lifelong struggle, courage and dynamic leadership.

“Crores of Indians shall continue to draw inspiration from the life of ‘Iron Lady of India’, Indira Gandhi for she was the epitome of lifelong struggle, courage and dynamic leadership, who selflessly contributed to nation building. She sacrificed her life to preserve the unity and integrity of India. Our humble homage on her birth anniversary,” Mr Kharge’s post read.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

If patriarchy stopped women from achieving what they want in India, how come Indira Gandhi made it as prime minister, asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

She met the students of CMS Business School here on Saturday and discussed various measures undertaken by the Centre to support innovation as well as the government schemes available for young people, including the 1 crore internships for the ‘unemployable youth’ in the age group of 21 to 24.

Replying to a question about women empowerment, Ms Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.

“Don’t get carried away by fantastic jargon. If you stand up for yourself and speak logically, patriarchy will not stop you from achieving your dreams,” she advised the women in the audience.

However, she admitted that women are not facilitated adequately and that more facilitation is needed.

Answering a question about the prospects of innovators in India, the finance minister said the Narendra Modi government is creating an environment that is conducive to innovators.

“We do not just support innovation by bringing out policies,” she said, adding that the Indian government is doing its best to ensure that such innovations find markets too.

As an example, she cited the support mechanism that is available for MSMEs. According to her, they are given priority in government procurements.

Ms Sitharaman said 40 per cent of all government procurements is coming from MSMEs. “That is why we have more than 2 lakh startups today in India and more than 130 have become unicorns. The opportunity is immense but is not fully utilised,” she said.

It is the same with digital banking transformation that is happening in India, she added.

According to her, opportunities were created for the common people through Jan Dhan Yojana.

“India’s approach to spreading digital networks was funded by the government, while many other countries went through private players, resulting in some nominal charges somewhere. Because of this, even micro-level users also access digital banking without having to pay for it,” Ms Sitharaman said, and added that this will only grow in the future.

“Therefore, technology will have to be continuously updated so that we don’t become redundant.” She also explained the concept of the ‘Fund of Funds’ offered by the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which is enabled by the Central government by infusing Rs 10,000 crore to help small businesses and innovative ideas needing support.

“Private equity funds are also backing this because we have given them concessions,” she added.

As for the latest government scheme offering one crore internships to the unemployable, Ms Sitharaman urged the students present to help get the target audience on to the platform so that more youth can become skilled. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Forty years ago, on October 31, 1984, India saw a sudden change of guard—Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as Prime Minister within four-and-a-half hours of the official announcement of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In 1964 and 1966, when the premiership changed following the death of a predecessor, new incumbents were sworn in after a 13-day mourning period. But things were different in 1984. Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri had died due to natural causes; Indira Gandhi had fallen to the bullets of assassins, her own bodyguards.

The planners of the assassination had chosen a perfect day: President Zail Singh was on a visit abroad; Cabinet Secretary Krishnaswamy Raosahib and the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary, P.C.Alexander, were in Bombay for a meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission; Pranab Mukherjee, the designated number-two in the Indira Gandhi Cabinet, was in West Bengal, accompanying All India Congress Committee general secretary Rajiv Gandhi on a tour of rural areas; Home Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao was visiting coastal Andhra; the Congress Working President, Kamlapati Tripathi, was touring Uttar Pradesh; Defence Minister Shankarrao Chavan was in Moscow, leading a delegation of Army and Air Force top brass; Naval chief Admiral Dawson was in Vishakhapatnam; and top intelligence advisor, Ram Nath Kao, was abroad.

Dark Days

Thanks to the resilience of India’s democracy, chaos was avoided and a smooth transition of power ensued, though it was blotted by the bloodshed of anti-Sikh riots, for which ultra-enthusiasts of the ruling party were blamed (some are facing trial to date). It was a macabre period—apparently, voters’ lists and ration card addresses had been used to identify Sikh homes for the pogrom. Indira Gandhi’s assassination was an aftermath of Operation Bluestar, in which the Army flushed out terrorists by attacking Amritsar’s Golden Temple complex. She was killed by Sikh bodyguards in her home, 1 Safdarjung Road.

Both norm and form were bypassed on that fateful day. It set in motion a departure from the observance of custom and ushered in an era of ad hoc, off-the-cuff decision-making in the Congress, in which the long shadow of bureaucracy and advisors (read: family, friends) over seasoned political leadership was all too evident. Palace intrigues were not new to the Grand Old Party. But in 1984, it was endorsed and institutionalised. Pigmies began dwarfing stalwarts.

Constitution And ‘Acting PM’

In 1964 and 1967, the charge of interim Prime Minister fell on the shoulders of Home Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda. India has no Constitutional provision for having an ‘acting Prime Minister’. Yet, Nanda was sworn in, ultimately demitting office after the next Prime Minister was formally chosen by the Congress Party in Parliament (CPP). Party president K. Kamraj orchestrated the candidatures of Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Indira Gandhi in 1966. On both occasions, conservative right-wing leader Morarji Desai lost out—he would become the Janata Party Prime Minister in 1977.

In 1984, Indira Gandhi herself was Congress President. She had appointed Kamlapati Tripathi as the Working President. On the day of her assassination, he was on tour. Thus, unlike in 1964 and 1966, there was no “Kamraj” available in New Delhi. On both of those previous occasions, President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to mentor and monitor succession. In 1984, Gyani Zail Singh was on a visit to Yemen (he rushed back upon hearing the news).

The Announcement Of Gandhi’s Death

As Indira Gandhi’s bullet-ridden body lay at the All-India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a conference room was opened up for ministers and senior bureaucrats. Indira Gandhi’s longtime aide, R.K. Dhawan, was also there, but the eclipsing of his status was all too evident. The advisor in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Vijay Shankar Tripathi, a retired IAS officer, acting in tandem with Rajiv Gandhi’s buddies, called the shots. He advised Principal Information Officer U.C. Tiwari to ensure that the news was not officially announced by Akashvani till 6 pm, though doctors had announced her death at 2.20 pm. Information minister H.K.L. Bhagat was kept out of the loop too.

The news had been broadcast by BBC London around 11 am, soon after the Indira Gandhi family’s yoga teacher, Dhirendra Brahmachari, came out of the eighth-floor operation theatre, where Gandhi’s body lay, and said with a strange wave of the hand “ab sab Bhagwan ke haath mein hai” (now it’s in the hands of the Almighty).

Following the BBC broadcast, most Indian missions abroad had lowered the national flag to half-mast. US President Ronald Reagan’s condolences reached New Delhi at 2 pm (even before the medical bulletin). However, as per Tripathi’s diktat, Indira Gandhi was ‘officially alive’ till 6 pm. Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in at 6.55 pm.

Rajiv Gandhi had heard the news put out by BBC that forenoon on a transistor radio in a village in Midnapore district. Pranab Mukherjee was by his side. He decided to rush back to Delhi. A special Indian Airlines flight was arranged from Calcutta. Mukherjee and another minister, A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhary, accompanied him. He reached AIIMS at 3.40 pm.

How Rajiv Gandhi Became PM

Rajiv Gandhi was of the opinion that a senior minister should hold the fort till things were finalised by the CPP. But this was not to be, as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Buta Singh, AICC treasurer Sitaram Kesari, Arun Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi’s school friend and aide, Arun Singh, were on the same page as V.S. Tripathi; a signature campaign endorsing Rajiv Gandhi was already on. The Youth Congress had announced that if anyone else was sworn in, “there would be trouble”.

President Zail Singh arrived at AIIMS at 5 pm. His motorcade had been pelted with stones as he drove from the Palam airport (anti-Sikh riots had engulfed the nation). During a conversation he had with this writer in August 1985, Singh recalled the day’s events thus: on learning that Indira Gandhi had been shot, he decided to return from Yemen. He asked his Secretary, IAS officer A.C. Bandopadhyay, to get a copy of the Constitution from the local Embassy. On board the IAF special aircraft, the President enquired about Rajiv Gandhi’s whereabouts. IAF security advised that as the flight was traversing airspace adjacent to Pakistan, only radio traffic related to flight logistics was advisable; the President’s mind should not be disclosed.

Honouring Indira Gandhi’s ‘Wish’

“After studying the Constitution, I realised that though the President is bound by aid and advice of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister, he has one independent, unfettered power: to choose who ought to be the Prime Minister and swear him in,” Singh added. He said he owed his position to Indira Gandhi and wished to fulfil her wish that her son should be her successor. On reaching AIIMS, he put his arm around Rajiv Gandhi’s shoulders and invited him to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The selection of Rajiv Gandhi was done during a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Board (CPB),  an organisational apex body, and not by CPP, the parliamentary wing. Of the five-member CPB, only two people—Pranab Mukherjee and P.V. Narasimha Rao—attended. Kamlapati Tripathi and Margatham Chandrashekhar were not in Delhi. The decision of the CPB was conveyed to the President in a handwritten note signed by the AICC General Secretary (Organisation), G.Karuppiah Moopanar (as a protégé of Kamraj, Moopanar had witnessed 1964 and 1966 successions from the sidelines).

As Rajiv Gandhi was being sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Durbar Hall, a meeting of the CPP was being held in Parliament’s Central Hall. It was presided by its deputy leader, Prof. N.G. Ranga, who was oblivious to the developments in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Thirty members attended. A condolence resolution was adopted. The CPP’s endorsement was post facto: on November 2, a resolution was passed with 497 out of 505 votes (eight MPs were absent) ‘electing’ the new Prime Minister.

Thus, a new era began. Endorsement of leadership, and not election, became the norm. Rajiv Gandhi won the ensuing General Election by a record score, surpassing Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. 
Five years later, beginning 1989, Congress stopped getting a Lok Sabha majority on its own. The Bharatiya Janata Party, born on April 6, 1980, contested its first election on the lotus symbol in 1984, winning a mere two seats. Decades later, in 2014, it would emerge as India’s party of governance with a clear mandate. 

(Shubhabrata Bhattacharya is a retired editor and a public affairs commentator)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Kurukshetra:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Congress on Saturday, alleging that the “royal family” of the opposition party wants to do away with the reservation for Dalits and asserting that as long as he is there, he will not allow a fraction of the quota given by B R Ambedkar to be looted or removed. The prime minister said this while addressing his first rally in Haryana in the run-up to the October 5 state Assembly polls.

Addressing the rally in Kurukshetra district, PM Modi recalled certain incidents that took place when the Congress was in power in the state and asked the gathering, “Who knows the anti-Dalit face of the Congress better than Haryana?”

He accused the Gandhi family of being the “biggest anti-Dalit, anti-OBC and anti-tribal” force in the country.

“They have now said if they come to power, they will end the reservation for Dalits and the downtrodden. This is the truth of this family,” PM Modi said.

The Gandhi family always “hated” BR Ambedkar and was strongly opposed to reservation, he alleged.

The family had “insulted” Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and tribals, the prime minister alleged further.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been attacking the Congress, saying Rahul Gandhi is against reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes and OBC, and his prejudice against the provision came out in the open during his recent interaction with the students of Georgetown University in the United States.

The BJP’s accusation came after Mr Gandhi told the students at the prestigious university that the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when “India is a fair place”, which he said is not the case right now.

Taking on the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, PM Modi claimed that he too had opposed reservation.

“He had written to the chief ministers of the states in this regard. There is proof of this. Nehruji had said if people get jobs due to reservation, the quality of government service will drop. These were the words of Nehruji,” he said.

Jawaharlal Nehru put the Kakasaheb Kalekar Commission’s report on the OBC reservation on the back burner, he claimed, adding that Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughter, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, had also stalled the OBC reservation.

The Mandal Commission was formed under the Janata Party government but when the Congress returned to power, it put the commission’s report on the back burner, he claimed.

“Rajivji (former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi) also did not let the OBC get reservation,” he said.

Then Mandal Commission report was implemented during the V P Singh government, which was supported by the BJP, PM Modi said.

“As the opposition leader in Parliament, Rajiv Gandhi had opposed the reservation. In an interview, he had dubbed those who got reservations as ‘buddhu’,” he claimed.

There could not be a bigger insult to the SC, ST and OBC communities than this, the prime minister said.

“Now, the royal family of the Congress is again insisting on doing away with reservation. But the Congress should listen to me carefully. As long as PM Modi is here, I will not allow a fraction of the reservation given by Baba Saheb Ambedkar to be looted or removed.

“The SC, ST and OBC reservations will stay. This is Modi’s guarantee and we will fight for it,” he said.

No one knows the anti-Dalit face of the Congress better than the people of Haryana, the prime minister said, adding that whenever the grand old party formed its government in the state, it became difficult for Dalits to live.

Referring to a 2005 incident in Gohana, he said, “Can any Dalit family forget it? In 2010, there was the Mirchpur incident. In 2012, the Bhagana incident and in 2014, what happened to daughters of Dalits? The soul shivers when someone recalls that shameful incident.” The then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the “royal family” of the Congress kept mum at that time, PM Modi said.

The Dalit community needs to remain alert of the Congress, he added.

In the Gohana incident, a few Dalit houses were set ablaze by some people after a man from the community was suspected of being involved in the killing of an upper-caste person.

In the Mirchpur incident, on April 21, 2010, a group of villagers belonging to an upper caste allegedly torched more than a dozen Dalit houses, killing a teenage girl and her aged father.

PM Modi asked the Congress to take care of its “androoni Mahabharat” (infighting).

“The way the Congress is doing its politics in Haryana by putting one family forward, the entire Dalit Samaj is watching it,” he said, apparently referring to the Hooda family this time.

The prime minister asserted that the BJP government is committed towards the development of Haryana.

“During the previous Congress regime, corruption had become a ritual in Haryana,” he alleged.

Youngsters suffered because of this as they could not get jobs without “kharchi-parchi (favouritism, corruption)”, PM Modi said.

He said the BJP government ended this “game of kharchi-parchi”.

The government gave 1.5 lakh jobs in a transparent manner, PM Modi said.

He said Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is going to give 25,000 jobs to youngsters but the Congress “Bharti roko gang” is creating impediments to it.

The BJP forming its government in Haryana for a third straight time means “sabka vikas, tez vikas (fast development for all)”, the prime minister said.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday recalled what they went through during the dark days of Emergency and said that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi put many of the leaders behind bars, but she never abused them.

In a post shared on X, the RJD chief shared an article “The Sangh Silence in 1975” written by him and journalist Nalin Verma. In the article, they attacked the BJP-led central government and said that although 1975 is a stain on the country’s democracy, let’s not forget who doesn’t respect the Opposition in 2024.

“I was the convener of the steering committee that Jayaprakash Narayan–had constituted to carry forward the movement against the excesses of Emergency imposed by the then PM Indira Gandhi. I was in jail under the Maintenance of Security Act (MISA) for over 15 months. My colleagues and I did not know many of the BJP ministers speaking about the Emergency today. We hadn’t heard of Modi, J P Nadda, and some of the PM’s other ministerial colleagues who today lecture us on the value of freedom,” he posted on X.

“Indira Gandhi put many of us behind bars, but she never abused us. Neither she nor her ministers called us “anti-national” or “unpatriotic”. She never enabled vandals to defile the memory of Babasaheb Ambedkar–the architect of our Constitution. 1975 is a stain on our democracy but let’s not forget who doesn’t respect the Opposition in 2024,” the RJD leader added.

On June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, imposed a 21-month state of emergency. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, which is considered one of the most controversial periods in India’s political history.

Earlier on Thursday, President Droupadi Murmu addressed the joint sitting of the Parliament and criticised the imposition of ‘Emergency’.

“Emergency was the biggest and darkest chapter of the direct attack on the Constitution. The entire country plunged into chaos during the Emergency, but the nation was victorious against such unconstitutional powers”, she said.

The remarks of the President have triggered reactions from the leaders of the INDIA bloc.

Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attempting to gain cheap applause by making the President deliver a speech filled with lies.

“Modi Ji is trying to gain cheap applause by making the Honorable President speak lies, which the people of India have already rejected in the 2024 elections,” Kharge wrote on his official ‘X’ account.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

In what was a late All India Radio broadcast on June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi, the then-Indian Prime Minister, announced that the President had proclaimed Emergency. The decision to impose Emergency came shortly after Supreme Court granted a conditional stay on the Allahabad High Court verdict, declaring Ms Gandhi’s election to the lower house of the Parliament null and void. She was also asked to distance herself from parliamentary proceedings.

During what would arguably be the toughest 21 months of Emergency, multiple leaders raised their voices against Ms Gandhi and her supporters. Their efforts finally put Indian democracy back on the rails in March 1977.

Here’s a look at 10 key leaders who braved the hardships and emerged strong from the Emergency period:

1. Jayaprakash Narayan

Popularly known as ‘Lok Nayak’ (the people’s hero), Jayaprakash Narayan called for Sampoorna Kranti, a total revolution, in the political system after the High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices. He never contested an election but received tremendous support from the people when he led the fight against the Emergency. A major highlight was the Ramlila Ground rally in the national capital that shook Ms Gandhi.

2. Morarji Desai

In the aftermath of the Emergency, the Janata Party came to power during the 1977 elections. As Mr Desai became the next Prime Minister, he reportedly overturned a slew of directives issued by Ms Gandhi, further bringing in major constitutional amendments to make it harder for Emergency to be declared in future again.

3. Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Most of the Opposition leaders were jailed during the Emergency. Among them was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was imprisoned for several months. During this time, he criticised Ms Gandhi’s decision to impose Emergency through his poems. In the Janata Party government, Mr Vajpayee, who would later become the country’s Prime Minister, served as the Foreign Minister of India.

4. LK Advani

One of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LK Advani was also among those imprisoned during the Emergency. Addressing the atmosphere of fear during the time, Advani’s words on how media operated are etched in memory. “When asked to bend, they chose to crawl,” he had famously remarked. Mr Advani would later serve as India’s Deputy Prime Minister.

5. George Fernandes

Stories of George Fernandes disguising himself as a local fisherman, a Sikh or even as a Sadhu to evade arrests during the Emergency period are known by one and all. He travelled extensively, receiving major support for resistance against Ms Gandhi’s rule. Though he was eventually arrested, Mr Fernandes later contested the general elections from jail and won the Muzaffarpur seat in Bihar by a massive margin.

6. Lalu Prasad Yadav

At a young age, Lalu Prasad Yadav took part in the JP movement and went on to gain enough prominence to emerge as an important leader in the post-emergency era. He has served as the Chief Minister of Bihar and was also the Railway Minister during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance era.

7. Mulayam Singh Yadav

Fondly known as ‘Netaji’ among party workers and followers, Mulayam Singh Yadav was also jailed during the Emergency period. Later, he went on to become one of the most prominent leaders of Uttar Pradesh and served as state Chief Minister thrice. After his demise in October 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to him, calling him a “key soldier for democracy during the Emergency.”

8. Sharad Yadav

A seven-term Lok Sabha and four-term Rajya Sabha member, Sharad Yadav is a former Union Minister. He was also among key leaders who opposed Ms Gandhi’s Emergency tooth and nail. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1974 from Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur. Mr Yadav also played a crucial role in the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations.

9. Ram Vilas Paswan

Ram Vilas Paswan, who would later emerge as one of the key leaders in Bihar politics, was jailed during the 1975 Emergency. Two years later, during the 1977 General Elections, Mr Paswan registered a landslide victory in the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat.

10. Raj Narain

Remembered as the biggest critic of ex-PM Indira Gandhi, Raj Narain was also arrested and imprisoned during the Emergency period. After losing to Ms Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli seat during the 1971 elections, Mr Narain challenged her election alleging electoral malpractices as well as violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Post the Emergency, he went on to defeat Ms Gandhi from the same seat in the 1977 elections.

Sant Kabir Nagar (Uttar Pradesh):

Taking a dig at the Congress and Gandhi family, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, grandmother of Rahul Gandhi gave slogans such as ‘Garibi Hatao’ but, in reality, the party never did anything for the poorer sections of society. He added that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who took care of 80 crore poor people in the country by giving them free ration.

Addressing an election rally in Sant Kabir Nagar, Amit Shah said, “They talk about the poor, Rahul Baba, your grandmother gave the slogan of eradicating poverty and you did nothing for the poor. PM Modi, the son of a poor tea seller, took care of 80 crore poor people in the country by giving free ration. Toilets were built in 12 crore houses, 4 crore pucca houses were constructed, Ujjwala gas cylinders were given to 10 crore mothers and sisters, pure tap water was provided to 14 crore houses.”

Amit Shah said that the Congress wants to snatch the reservation given to Other Backward Classes and transfer it to the Muslim community.

“In Karnataka and Hyderabad, the Congress Party reduced the reservation for backward and extremely backward classes by giving 5 per cent reservation to Muslims,” he said.

He further stated that this election is between those “who opened fire on Kar Sevaks in 1990 and those who constructed the Ram Temple”.

“Samajwadi Party opened fire on Ram bhakts, hundreds of kar sevaks were gunned down. This election is between those who shoot at Ram bhakts and those who built Ram Mandir,” he said.

Polling for the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is being held across all seven phases. Voting in the first five phases has already been completed, while the remaining phases are scheduled for May 25, and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4.

In the 2019 polls, the BJP mopped up the bulk of the electoral spoils in the state, winning 62 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, while ally Apna Dal (S) won two more seats. Mayawati’s BSP managed to secure 10 seats, while her then-alliance partner, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, had to settle for just 5 seats. The Congress won just a lone seat in the state. In the 2014 elections, the BJP had swept UP, winning 71 seats, while the Congress could only bag two.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Watch | 50 years ago, India conducted its first ever nuclear test

Fifty years ago, India conducted its first nuclear test in Pokhran, code-named Operation Smiling Buddha. With this India had entered the league of nations with nuclear capabilities.

An article dated May 19th, 1974, says India successfully conducted an underground test with plutonium device in 10-15 kiloton range. It also adds that the then Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Dr H.N Sethna and Director of The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre DR R Ramanna, who supervised the test, flew to Delhi even without a wash or change to give a full account to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

India said that it undertook this programme to develop its own technology for peaceful use of nuclear energy and it had no intention of going in for nuclear weapons. The groundwork for testing nuclear energy was laid even earlier by renowned Indian scientists Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. In 1954, the Department of Atomic Energy was founded, with Bhabha as director.

With Smiling Buddha, India became the first nation to conduct a nuclear test apart from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. After the nuclear test, there were criticisms that it was an attempt to divert people’s attention from the economic crisis the country was facing in the 1970s.

However, the Atomic Energy Commission chairman said that it was his decision and that there was no political motive,
Even a New York Times article said that “such great talent of resources has been squandered on the vanity of power, while 600 million Indians slip deeper into poverty”.

India also faced significant criticism from many countries including Pakistan, USA, and Canada. Pakistan said that it would never succumb to “nuclear blackmail” or accept “Indian hegemony or domination over the subcontinent”.

India did not carry out further nuclear tests until 1998. In 1998, under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India conducted a series of nuclear tests in Pokhran once again, code-named Operation Shakti.

With this, India declared itself a full-fledged nuclear state.

Script and production: Gayatri Menon

Research: Gayatri Menon and Murali Krishnaswamy

Archive photo courtesy: M. Srinath

Voiceover: Jude Francis Weston