Recalling Emergency: How news published in 'Ranbheri' became a source of information for foreign media

Jayprakash Narayan

By Nachiketa Desai*
The imposition of Emergency on the night of 25-26 June 1975, suspending the fundamental rights of the people, became instrumental in converting me, a social activist, into a journalist. I was the national convener of the Tarun Shanti Sena, a youth organization founded by Sarvodaya leader Jayprakash Narayan (JP) who headed the movement for Total Revolution.

The Allahabad High Court had disqualified Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a member of the Parliament after holding her guilty of malpractices in her election campaign. JP had held a massive rally in Delhi, attended by all major non-Congress opposition parties to demand Indira Gandhi’s resignation.
Instead of resigning she recommended to the President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, to promulgate a state of Emergency in the country.
In a mid-night swoop, Indira Gandhi had ordered the arrest of JP, opposition party leaders and all social and political activists opposed to her. I was in train returning to Varanasi from Bihar. I reached the Varanasi City railway station at the crack of the dawn on June 26 and learnt from newspapers about the declaration of Emergency and mass arrest of JP and other political leaders.

"Ranbheri"

I lived in the campus of the Sarva Seva Sangh, the apex body of the Sarvodaya movement, at the confluence of the rivers Varuna and Ganga. Surely father Narayan Desai, who was a close associate of JP, would have been arrested by now and our campus placed under police surveillance, I suspected.
On reaching home, mother told me that father had left for an unknown destination that same night. She advised me to also do likewise. Around midnight, there was a knock on the door. We thought it must be the police looking for me.
But to our surprise, it was my friend Lal Muni Choubey, a prominent youth leader from Bihar. He told me to accompany him immediately. He had planned to go to his home town Bhabhua in Bihar, load his jeep with dynamite sticks and blow up all the bridges that linked Bihar to Uttar Pradesh. But before we could execute the plan, he was arrested the very next day from near his hideout next to the campus of the Banaras Hindu University. I escaped with my close friend Ashok Mishra to Gorakhpur on the border of Nepal.
We returned to Varanasi after a week and decided to publish a hand-written, cyclostyled news bulletin to mobilize public opinion against the Emergency. I broke the lock of the main office of the Sarva Seva Sangh, stole the cyclostyle machine and took it to Ashok Mishra’s village Chandpur, some 20 km from Varanasi, situated on the bank of the Ganga river.

Nachiketa Desai

We brought out 6,000 copies of the news bulletin, titled ‘Ranbheri’ (clarion call) every week throughout the Emergency from Chandpur. The two-page news bulletin was distributed largely in UP and Bihar while some copies were sent to Kathmandu. As the dispatches of all foreign correspondents based in India had to be subjected to censorship, most of them shifted their base to Kathmandu. News published by us in our underground bulletin became one of the source of information to the foreign media.
Thus, it was during the Emergency that my tryst with journalism began in 1975.
---
*Senior Gujarat-based journalist

Comments

Modi win may force Pak to put Kashmir on backburner, resume trade ties with India

By Salman Rafi Sheikh* When Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in India with a landslide victory in 2019, his government acted swiftly. Just months after the election, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In doing so, it stripped the special constitutional status conferred on Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, and downgraded its status from a state with its own elected assembly to a union territory administered by the central government in Delhi.

Stagnating wages since 2014-15: Economists explain Modi legacy for informal workers

By Our Representative Real wages have barely risen in India since 2014-15, despite rapid GDP growth. The country’s social security system has also stagnated in this period. The lives of informal workers remain extremely precarious, especially in states like Jharkhand where casual employment is the main source of livelihood for millions. These are some of the findings presented by economists Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera at a press conference convened by the Loktantra Bachao 2024 campaign.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

'Assault on civic, academic freedom, right to dissent': TISS PhD student's suspension

By Our Representative The Mumbai-based civil rights group All India Secular Forum (AISF) has said that the suspension of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) PhD student Ramadas Prini Sivanandan (30) for two years for allegedly indulging in activities which were "not in the interest of the nation" is meant to send out the message that students and educational institutes will be targeted if they don’t align with the agenda and ideology of the ruling regime. TISS in a notice served to Ramadas has cited that his role in screening the documentary 'Ram Ke Naam' on January 26 as a "mark of dishonour and protest" against the Ram Mandir idol consecration in Ayodhya. Another incident cited in the notice was Ramadas’ participation in the protest against unfair government policies in Delhi under the banner of the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF)-TISS. TISS alleges the institute's name was "misused", which wrongfully created an impression that

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor* Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Tyre cartel's monopoly: Farmers' groups seek legal fight for better price for raw rubber

By Our Representative The All India Kisan Sabha and the Kerala Karshaka Sangham that represents the largest rubber producing state of Kerala along with rubber farmers have sought intervention against the monopoly tyre companies that have formed a cartel against the interests of consumers and farmers. Vijoo Krishnan, AIKS General Secretary, Valsan Panoli, Kerala Karshaka Sangham General Secretary, and four farmers representing different rubber growing regions of Kerala have filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court.

Why it's only Modi ki guarantee, not BJP's, and how Varanasi has seen it up-close

"Development" along Ganga By Rosamma Thomas* I was in Varanasi in this April, days before polling began for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. There are huge billboards advertising the Member of Parliament from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The only image on all these large hoardings is of the PM, against a saffron background. It is as if the very person of Modi is what his party wishes to showcase.

Joblessness, saffronisation, corporatisation of education: BJP 'squarely responsible'

Counterview Desk In an open appeal to youth and students across India, several student and youth organizations from across India have said that the ruling party is squarely accountable for the issues concerning the students and the youth, including expensive education and extensive joblessness.

Following the 3000-year old Pharaoh legacy? Poll-eve Surya tilak on Ram Lalla statue

By Sukla Sen Located at a site called Abu Simbel in Nubia, Upper Egypt, the eponymous rock temples were created in 1244 BCE, under the orders of Pharaoh Ramesses II (1303-1213 BC)... Ramesses II was fond of showcasing his achievements. It was this desire to brag about his victory that led to the planning and eventual construction of the temples (interestingly, historians say that the Battle of Qadesh actually ended in a draw based on the depicted story -- not quite the definitive victory Ramesses II was making it out to be).

India's "welcome" proposal to impose sin tax on aerated drinks is part of to fight growing sugar consumption

By Amit Srivastava* A proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages like tobacco in India has been welcomed by public health advocates. The proposal to increase sin taxes on aerated drinks is part of the recommendations made by India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament of India.

Counterview

Search This Blog