India at Sixty

India at Sixty

Countries and Nations can be the streams constituting ocean of human beings. Each and every country and nation have one of its peculiar and specific custom or tradition that gives an identity to the citizens of that part of globe but when it comes to India, the land of oldest knowledge books Vedas, The world’s oldest living civilization, the meaning get a different format because India is just not a country but is a nation compiled from various thought process, living styles and customs and traditions. In fact this diversity which in the most cases work as splitting seed is working for the country to make the most powerful driving power of this era of information and technology.

It is common saying of political world childhood of politician’s ends only after crossing forty and at fifty they start sensing the situations and realizing their own responsibilities. When today we are celebrating 60^th Independence Day of the country I was thinking about the one most effective incidence of free India and my thoughts after rooming here and there got stabilization at the “Emergency status” of about 18 months between 1975 and 1977.

With the emergency the one image that was visualized by my mind was of the Indira Firoz Gandhi, the most powerful prime minister of India, Most effective politician of world in influencing moss population and instrumental for imposing emergency status just for sack of preserving her status of being prime minister of the country. Those were the days of British rule when on November 19, 1917, Kamala Nehru wife of most famous political leader Jawaharlal Nehru, has given birth to a girl child, who was named as Indira piryadarshani, it was illness and untimely death of mother that made the childhood of Indira away from the shadows of natural protecting, full of affection and guiding care of mother. This might be the reason of highly self centered and commanding attitude of the Indira Gandhi. This situation also created the atmosphere in which she was founding her more closely associated with father and started to be active in the freedom struggle with leading “Vanar Sena”. The political guidance and practical lessons from the father till his death in 1964. It was her strong will that has made her the Prime Minister of country in 1966 just within the two years of death of her father. When I say she was the most influenced and effective politician, it is not because her achievements listed below but for the unmatched effect generated by her on masses that not only made her Prime Minister of one of the largest democracies of the world but created atmosphere for the ruling of the country by her late son Rajiv Gandhi, Daughter in law Sonia Gandhi [ruling unofficially] and Grand sons Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi [Being looked as the Future Prime Minister of India]. She was instrumental in diverting and converting the social leadership of political party formed even before her birth into individual leadership. What more illustration will be there for her self centered nature, she has changed the Indian National Congress into Indira Congress. It was unfortunate that she was assassinated on October 31, 1984 due to anguish generated from the “operation blue star”. Just have a look at some of the major achievements of her as the political leader of India:

*** President of Indian National Congress [1959]

*** Union Minister in L.B.Shastri’s Cabinet

*** Prime Minister of India [1966]

*** Nationalization of Banks

*** Stopping of Pension given to rulers of various riyasats.

*** Army support for the formation of Bangaladesh [1971]

*** Imposing Emergency status on country [June 1975]

*** Lost of General election and Government [1977]

*** Operation Blue Star [1984]

For those who might be interested article 352 of Indian constitution, which allowed her to impose emergency status is given here below:

EMERGENCY PROVISIONS

352. Proclamation of Emergency.—(1) If the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened, whether by war or external aggression or armed rebellion, he may, by Proclamation, make a declaration to that effect in respect of the whole of India or of such part of the territory thereof as may be specified in the Proclamation.

Explanation.—A Proclamation of Emergency declaring that the security of India or any part of the territory thereof is threatened by war or by external aggression or by armed rebellion may be made before the actual occurrence of war or of any such aggression or rebellion, if the President is satisfied that there is imminent danger thereof.

(2) A Proclamation issued under clause (1) may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Proclamation.

(3) The President shall not issue a Proclamation under clause (1) or a Proclamation varying such Proclamation unless the decision of the Union Cabinet (that is to say, the Council consisting of the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Cabinet rank appointed under article 75) that such a Proclamation may be issued has been communicated to him in writing.

(4) Every Proclamation issued under this article shall be laid before each House of Parliament and shall, except where it is a Proclamation revoking a previous Proclamation, cease to operate at the expiration of one month unless before the expiration of that period it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament:

Provided that if any such Proclamation (not being a Proclamation revoking a previous Proclamation) is issued at a time when the House of the People has been dissolved, or the dissolution of the House of the People takes place during the period of one month referred to in this clause, and if a resolution approving the Proclamation has been passed by the Council of States, but no resolution with respect to such Proclamation has been passed by the House of the People before the expiration of that period, the Proclamation shall cease to operate at the expiration of thirty days from the date on which the House of the People first sits after its reconstitution, unless before the expiration of the said period of thirty days a resolution approving the Proclamation has been also passed by the House of the People.

(5) A Proclamation so approved shall, unless revoked, cease to operate on the expiration of a period of six months from the date of the passing of the second of the resolutions approving the Proclamation under clause (4):

Provided that if and so often as a resolution approving the continuance in force of such a Proclamation is passed by both Houses of Parliament the Proclamation shall, unless revoked, continue in force for a further period of six months from the date on which it would otherwise have ceased to operate under this clause:

Provided further that if the dissolution of the House of the People takes place during any such period of six months and a resolution approving the continuance in force of such Proclamation has been passed by the Council of States but no resolution with respect to the continuance in force of such Proclamation has been passed by the House of the People during the said period, the Proclamation shall cease to operate at the expiration of thirty days from the date on which the House of the People first sits after its reconstitution unless before the expiration of the said period of thirty days, a resolution approving the continuance in force of the Proclamation has been also passed by the House of the People.

(6) For the purposes of clauses (4) and (5), a resolution may be passed by either House of Parliament only by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the Members of that House present and voting.

(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing clauses, the President shall revoke a Proclamation issued under clause (1) or a Proclamation varying such Proclamation if the House of the People passes a resolution disapproving, or, as the case may be, disapproving the continuance in force of, such Proclamation.

(8) Where a notice in writing signed by not less than one-tenth of the total number of members of the House of the People has been given, of their intention to move a resolution for disapproving, or, as the case may be, for disapproving the continuance in force of, a Proclamation issued under clause (1) or a Proclamation varying such Proclamation,—

(a) to the Speaker, if the House is in session; or

(b) to the President, if the House is not in session,

a special sitting of the House shall be held within fourteen days from the date on which such notice is received by the Speaker, or, as the case may be, by the President, for the purpose of considering such resolution.

(9) The power conferred on the President by this article shall include the power to issue different Proclamations on different grounds, being war or external aggression or armed rebellion or imminent danger of war or external aggression or armed rebellion, whether or not there is a Proclamation already issued by the President under clause (1) and such Proclamation is in operation.