Jaipur4 hours agoAuthor: Govardhan Choudhary
‘Brothers and sisters, the President has declared a state of emergency, there is no reason to panic.’ 47 years ago on the morning of June 26, 1975, when this message reverberated on the radio in the voice of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the people of the country came to know that Emergency has been imposed in the country from June 25, 1975. But there were many people who knew before the signing of the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on the intervening night of 25 June and 26 June that the country would be in a state of emergency from tomorrow. In the second installment of the series ‘Emergency and Rajasthan’, today the story of the Chief Minister, who had to leave his son’s marriage and go 500 km away due to a phone call.
Actually, Haridev Joshi was the Chief Minister of Rajasthan on 25 June 1975 when the Emergency was declared. A few hours before the imposition of Emergency, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wanted to talk to him. Senior journalist Vijay Bhandari has described this incident in detail in the book ‘Rajasthan Ki Politics, Feudalwad Se Jaatism Ke Bhanwar Mein’ based on the political developments of Rajasthan.
Bhandari has written – On June 25, 1975, Chief Minister Haridev Joshi was engaged in welcoming the guests at the wedding ceremony of his younger son Suresh Joshi in Banswara. At the same time, Madhya Pradesh CM PC Sethi reached Banswara to pick up Haridev Joshi by taking a special plane. Sethi had a message – PM Indira Gandhi wants to talk confidentially with CM Joshi.
At that time the phone facility was only in Jaipur, which was more than 500 km from Banswara. Joshi had a dilemma – on one hand it was necessary to talk to the Prime Minister and on the other hand the son’s procession was about to leave.
Took the procession to the archway
In the message given by the then CM of MP PC Sethi to CM Haridev Joshi, there was a clear mention – the matter is confidential and urgent. No one should have any ears or ears. Joshi did the same, not letting anyone know about the upheaval in his mind.
After leaving his son’s procession, he left for Jaipur silently.
Joshi took the son’s wedding procession to Toran and then quietly left for Jaipur meeting in a special plane. After reaching Jaipur, spoke to PM Indira Gandhi on the phone and left for Banswara. After reaching there, he again joined the son’s marriage. During this, he was missing from his son’s wedding for about 6 hours.
What did Indira Gandhi say to Joshi on the phone?
No one has official details about what happened between Indira Gandhi and Haridev Joshi that night, but political experts believe that Indira Gandhi had informed Haridev Joshi about the steps to be taken during the implementation of Emergency and about this. Was told to prepare. There is also a basis for this argument – because after a few hours of this conversation on the phone, emergency was imposed from 12 o’clock in the night.
Congress leader Bhanwar Jitendra Singh’s father had committed suicide before his arrest in Emergency.
Raja Pratap Singh was a staunch critic of the Congress government before the royal family of Alwar. During the Emergency, the government had made all preparations to send him to jail. The then Home Secretary had given written orders to the Alwar Collector to arrest Pratap Singh and bring him to Jaipur and then to Ajmer Central Jail.
His residence Phoolbagh was surrounded by the police for several days. Water and electricity connections were cut. No one was allowed to go out or enter the flower garden. For several days, Phulbagh remained a police camp. However, Pratap Singh had committed suicide before his arrest. Later Pratap Singh’s son Bhanwar Jitendra Singh joined the Congress and is today the party’s national general secretary and CWC member.
Many Congress leaders were also put in jail.
In the Emergency, along with the anti-Congress leaders, the leaders of Indira Gandhi were also imprisoned. Former CM Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Swatantra Party’s MP Gayatri Devi, former Maharaja Bhawani Singh of Jaipur royal family, Lok Dal leader Doltram Saran, Mohan Prakash, BJP leader Satishchand Agarwal, Sarvodayi leader Siddharaj Dhadda, former state president of Congress and then organization Congress President Master Adityaendra, socialist leader Pandit Ramkishan Sharma, Jan Sangh youth leader Ghanshyam Tiwari, Gulabchand Kataria, Kailash Meghwal were in jails.
read this also-