Citizens’ group to recall Justice Chagla’s alarm as India faces ‘undeclared' Emergency

By A Representative 

In a move likely to raise eyebrows among the powers-that-be, a voluntary organisation founded during the “dark days” of the Indira Gandhi-imposed Emergency has announced that it will hold a public conference in Ahmedabad to highlight what its office-bearers call today’s “undeclared Emergency.”

Scheduled to take place at Bhavan’s College, one of the city’s best-known educational institutions, on October 12, the conference aims to “remind the youth” how the 1975–77 Emergency trampled on democracy and freedom of speech — drawing parallels with current developments in India.

Speaking to the media, veteran litterateur Prakash N. Shah, who will preside over the one-day event, said the gathering will mark the golden jubilee of the first major protest against the Emergency, launched on October 12, 1975, in Ahmedabad.

“At that time, Gujarat, along with Tamil Nadu, were islands of freedom when the rest of the country was under the grip of the Emergency,” Shah said. “Fifty years ago, on October 12, 1975, a historic citizens’ movement — Citizens for Democracy — was founded under the inspiration of Jayaprakash Narayan by eminent jurist Justice V.M. Tarkunde and veteran freedom fighter Chandrakant Daru.”

Recalling that moment, Shah said Justice M.C. Chagla, speaking at the Citizens for Democracy conference held with the blessings of then Gujarat Chief Minister Babubhai Jashbhai Patel, had called it a “stark, grim, ghastly reality” that civil liberties had been suspended and that democracy, the Constitution, and freedoms had been betrayed. He invoked Gandhi’s idea of freedom “from tyranny, oppression, and injustice of every kind.”

Shah, who attended that “historic” speech, lamented that today the country faces a similar — and perhaps even more dangerous — predicament, saying that “the time has come to fight it out.”

He said the October 12, 2025, event seeks to recall what Justice Chagla said 50 years ago and to inspire citizens, especially youth, to assert their democratic rights at a time when democratic institutions, fundamental rights, secularism, justice, and equality are under grave threat, and authoritarian tendencies are rising.

Nehru, Chagla

Drawing a parallel, Shah noted that Chagla — who served as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court (1947–1958), India’s Ambassador to the U.S. (1958–1961), High Commissioner to the U.K. (1962–1963), and Education and External Affairs Minister (1966–1967) — had described the Emergency as “the Original Sin,” where a person could be detained “without being told the grounds, without a defence, without recourse to any tribunal or appeal.”

Responding to questions, Shah acknowledged that several RSS stalwarts — including Gujarat saffron ideologue Vishnu Pandya, Jana Sangh leader Vasant Gajendragadkar and MP Jagannath Rao Joshi — had attended the Chagla meet. “All of them opposed the Emergency but never crossed the line agreed upon for opposing authoritarian rule,” he said.

When asked whether Jayaprakash Narayan had played a major role in legitimising the RSS on the national scene, Shah replied, “We can discuss that later. However, the fact remains that while the RSS gained legitimacy by opposing the Emergency, the Congress lost its own.”

Asked if the organisers had invited Vishnu Pandya, a known Modi supporter with RSS links who lives in Ahmedabad, Shah said, “We haven’t specifically called him, but it’s a public meeting — he’s welcome to attend.”

Those expected to speak at the Ahmedabad conference, besides Shah, include noted scholar Ram Puniyani, Sepreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, journalist and writer Bhasha Singh, and Gujarat High Court advocate Anand Yagnik.