‘I told them you lock me from outside, I'll lock from inside. They stopped': Morarji Desai on his jail time

Indian Express

6 hours ago

When veteran freedom fighter Morarji Desai was detained from his home at 4 am on June 26, 1975, and brought to the Sohna tourist centre at 6 am, the 81-year-old took a vow: 'I made the decision not to take cooked food any more. Ever since, I have lived only on milk and fruits.'
The police had come to detain him first at 2.30 am, but left to return at 4 am because they were told he was asleep. The previous evening, he had addressed a rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi and had sensed something was wrong because of a large police deployment.
Desai was brought to the tourist centre at the same time as Jayaprakash Narayan, he recalled in his autobiography The Story Of My Life, and put up in adjacent suites with two living rooms with attached bathrooms. Desai, who said the policemen were courteous and polite, recalled that he had packed just two pairs of clothes, a spinning wheel, and a few other things, including two or three books, for what would be a long detention without trial.
'In the beginning, my room was not locked from the outside; nor did I lock it from the inside. After two or three days, I found it was locked from outside. I told them that if they continued to lock from the outside, I would lock it from the inside. They stopped doing so,' Desai wrote.
For two days, Desai was not supplied with newspapers. When he threatened to not eat anymore if newspapers weren't provided, the veteran leader was given papers.
'On reading the newspapers, I came to know about the press censorship which was much stricter than those of British days. During the British regime, newspapers could publish the names of the arrested and the jails in which they were lodged,' he reminisced. 'When I read news reports which were patently untrue I did not become agitated because I knew that those were inspired by their debased nature and temperament, and that they were motivated by fear. Yet, some periodicals preferred to close rather than succumb to the pressure of the Government. This gave great hope to the country.'
'I also got a copy of the booklet 'Why Emergency?', which was circulated by the Government. It was a tissue of lies. How else could they have justified their evil steps?' he said. 'My faith in God's laws asserting themselves and justice prevailing eventually is invincible. God's justice would prevail at the proper time.'
When he said he wanted permission to resume his walks, Desai was told he could do so after 7.30 pm. He refused, saying he wasn't a thief to walk in the dark, and discontinued his walks for a month. Desai recalled waking up at 4 am each day, and when shifted to Taoru, again in Haryana, on July 30, 1975, he used to get up at 3 am, offer prayers, recite the Gita, perform Padmasana for one hour, walk for one hour, spin yarn, drink cow's milk and eat fruits for breakfast and lunch, go on an evening walk, and have an evening meal of fruits and milk. He also read the Ram Charita Manas, provided to him by a policeman, multiple times.
'Reading the newspapers between the lines I discerned the havoc wrought on our people through fear. This trait has been inherent in our countrymen for several centuries. I was deeply upset. Our land has suffered from fear for 13 centuries, ever since we were invaded and became subject. But at no time in our history was fear so pervasive and intense as in Smt. Gandhi's time. I came to know about the excesses committed in the name of family planning from the policemen on duty at Taoru. I learnt about the riots in the nearby villages.'
'In the winter months they gave me a sweater also. I was also given a pair of shoes at Taoru. I asked for razor blades, but not for shaving soap, since I use soap only to wash my hands. One cake of soap lasted me for more than a year. On Ekadashi days when I fasted, they gave me sugarcane juice once a day. They provided me with an air-conditioner at Taoru, but power failures were frequent. On one or two occasions the air-conditioner failed for 15 days at a stretch. The police officers suggested that I sleep in the open. I preferred to remain inside since sleeping outside would have inconvenienced them,' Desai wrote.
Desai said he would walk till the beginning of the road, but a policeman told him he could walk on the road too. 'I told him that if his superiors came to know about it, he would lose his job,' he cautioned. When the police officers were not able to keep pace with him during his walks, Desai once remarked, 'Who appointed you a police officer?'' Villagers, Desai recalled, would greet him with 'Ram Ram' and he would respond with the same greeting.
Desai wrote that the policemen privately told him they wanted to see him as Prime Minister and when Desai said he was too old for it, they would say, 'Age does not matter; you are very active. God willing, it will happen.'
'After I was released I saw the people's fear lessen. They were beginning to regain their courage. This helps explain the historic victory of the Janata Party during the March 1977 elections,' he said.
Desai did not recall his days in detention with bitterness. 'These 19 months of detention were the most beneficial period of my life. This is why I publicly thank Smt. Gandhi for it. I have no doubt that my detention was the will of God. Smt. Gandhi was His instrument. Therefore, there is no question of my blaming her,' he wrote in his book.
'During the detention I lived introspectively. How could I improve myself? What about the blemishes within? Was there tension? Did I dislike anybody? I also searched within to analyse my feelings towards Smt. Indira Gandhi. I realised that I did harbour some resentment against her. But the very act of realisation freed me of such feelings. Since then I have not harboured a dislike for anybody.'
'During my former (occasions of) imprisonment, I always had several people with me. That provided me with an opportunity to study human nature, because in jail people shed all hypocrisy… During this detention, I could travel within without interference. Such a journey kept me free from all worry; even about the conditions prevailing in the country. However, that did not mean that I was not concerned about things outside; but such concern did not disturb the inner peace,' he wrote.
The Janata Party defeated the Congress in the March 1977 elections and, as the policemen purportedly wished, Desai went on to become Prime Minister.