"An experience that touches the heart," Uttarakhand CM Dhami on 'The Emergency Diaries'
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], June 27 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday said that the book 'The Emergency Diaries: Years that Forged a Leader' is not just a book, but an experience that touches the heart.
He said the book tells the story of a time when speaking out was considered a crime and staying silent was seen as a form of surrender.
'In these pages, one finds the shadow of such a personality, who kept the torch of his thoughts burning even in that silence. The leadership that has become the voice of India on the world stage today has been tempered in the heat of struggle,' Dhami said.
He said that while reading this chapter of the life journey of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the mind fills with pride.
'The Emergency Diaries - Years that Forged a Leader' book published by BlueKraft is based on first-person anecdotes from associates who worked with young Modi, and using other archival material, the book is a first of its kind that creates new scholarship on the formative years of a young man who would give it his all in the fight against tyranny.
Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami participated in the 'Samman Program for Democracy Fighters on completion of 50 years of Emergency' organised at the Himalayan Cultural Centre, Dehradun.
CM Dhami said that the period of Emergency will always be marked as a black chapter in Indian democratic history.
Paying tribute to the democracy fighters, CM Dhami said, 'Today we are getting the privilege of honouring the great heroes who protected democracy. The period of Emergency will always be marked as a black chapter in Indian democratic history. This decision, as always, was the result of the dogmatism and dictatorial attitude of a family that considered the country as its fiefdom.' (ANI)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
United News of India
17 minutes ago
- United News of India
Cong glorified its Jail Yatras, real revolutionaries went to Kala Pani: Jitendra
Jammu, June 27 (UNI) Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday said that Congress glorified its Jail Yatras while real revolutionaries went to Kala Pani. Addressing a press conference here to mark 50 years since the declaration of Emergency in 1975, describing it as the darkest blot on Indian democracy, Dr Singh exposed what he called the decades-old DNA of Congress marked by nepotism, authoritarianism, and suppression of democratic values, warning that while Emergency may have formally ended, its mindset still persists in some political quarters. Dr. Singh underlined that the seeds of authoritarian tendencies were sown long before 1975. 'Before the nation began voting for Narendra Modi, this psyche of entitlement had already taken root,' he said. Referring to the Congress Presidential elections of 1946, he recalled how 12 out of 15 Pradesh Congress Committees voted for Sardar Patel, but Jawaharlal Nehru was imposed as Prime Minister under Gandhiji's pressure, despite Patel's overwhelming mandate. 'This was the first betrayal of democracy — when the popular choice was overruled for dynastic favoritism,' Dr. Singh said, quoting Dr. Rajendra Prasad who had remarked, 'Gandhi has once again sacrificed his trusted lieutenant in favor of glamour.' Dr. Singh called out the Congress leadership's glorification of jail-time, pointing out that most leaders were imprisoned post-1933, under far more comfortable conditions than revolutionaries like Veer Savarkar and Comrade Dhanwantri, who endured Kala Pani. 'Had Discovery of India been written before 1933, it would have been from a colonial dungeon, not a jail library,' he quipped. Dr Singh chronicled how Indira Gandhi was installed as Prime Minister in 1966 by K. Kamaraj under the assumption she would be a puppet. But within three years, she split the Congress, disrespected internal democracy, and laid the groundwork for authoritarianism. 'Her lust for control created Sanjay Gandhi's extra-constitutional power center, where real power was usurped from democratic institutions,' he said. Referring to PN Haksar who was a Kashmiri Pandit, her own Principal Secretary, Dr. Singh quoted, 'She is blind where that boy (Sanjay) is concerned,' pointing to her compromised judgment in the face of dynastic emotion. Recalling the historic student movements of 1974, Dr. Singh described how the youth of Gujarat and Bihar sparked a revolution against Indira's misrule, culminating in the Allahabad High Court's 1975 judgment that found her guilty of electoral malpractices. 'Instead of stepping down, she imposed Emergency, arrested dissenters, censored the press, and suspended civil liberties,' he said. Dr Singh lambasted the infamous 42nd Constitutional Amendment, branding it the most 'notorious assault' on India's democratic spirit. "They extended the life of Parliament from 5 to 6 years, introduced the terms secular and socialist opportunistically, and muffled every voice of dissent,' he thundered. Highlighting how this abuse extended even to Jammu and Kashmir, he said, 'The Emergency allowed Congress to misuse Article 370 to extend the J&K Assembly term to six years. The reversal came only in 2019, under the leadership of PM Modi.' Dr. Singh further said, 'Like Raj Kapoor's famous line in film 'Awara' — 'You are punishing me, but the gutter I came from still exists' — the Congress mindset of suppressing truth, glorifying dynasty, and throttling democracy still haunts us.' He warned against whitewashing the past, saying, 'We must remember every stain — not to glorify it, but to remind future generations who betrayed democracy. If we erase the memory of Emergency, we risk inviting its shadows again.' In conclusion, Dr. Jitendra Singh gave a clarion call 'If we want India's democratic journey to continue uninterrupted, we must constantly guard against those who disguise dictatorship in the garb of legacy. The Emergency may be history, but the mindset behind it is a threat that must be defeated — intellectually, politically, and democratically.' UNI VBH GNK 2010
The Wire
18 minutes ago
- The Wire
Remembering Jim Masselos, the Australian Scholar of Bombay's Social History
James Cosmas Masselos (1940-2025) studied and wrote about Bombay/Mumbai for six decades. He was a pioneer in the study of the history of urban South Asia, held in great esteem and affection by generations of scholars who regard his work as foundational to their own. Jim was at the tail end of a generation of Australians who made a global impact on London in the 1960s such as Germaine Greer, Robert Hughes and Barry Humphries. However, after graduating from the University of Sydney, Jim headed not to London but instead made the journey by sea to Bombay (as it was) on a studentship funded by the Indian government under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. Supervised by Professor William Coelho at the Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St Xavier's College, Jim submitted his doctoral thesis to the University of Bombay in 1964. This was a study of the origins of nationalist associations in late 19th century Bombay and Poona. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jim wrote a series of essays which laid the foundations for a new kind of urban social history. He explored how 19th-century Bombay was made from below by a range of social actors. These writings traversed a range of themes: the world of the urban mohalla, crowds and popular culture, and the changing rhythms of everyday life in the city. In the 1980s, Jim began his work on Congress' efforts at popular mobilisation in inter-war Bombay, then in the early 1990s, he looked at how other visions of the political that threatened to undercut its secular fabric. Thus, shortly after the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai, he published an essay that examined the first Hindu-Muslim riots in the city a century earlier. Professor Prashant Kidambi quotes an essay of Jim's from 1992: 'Bombay was always an Indian city; even in the days of the Raj Bombay was never merely a white enclave surrounded by an Asiatic universe.' It was a view that stood in stark contrast to prevailing notions of the so-called 'colonial city', which regarded it as a largely European construct in whose fashioning Indians had little or no role. Jim drew on empirical and archival material using strong analytical frameworks. He underlined the shaping of Bombay by the dynamic between the formally 'defined city' and the informally inhabited 'effective city'. Again Kidambi quotes Jim: 'The city defies the intentions of its masters to impose an orderly planned pattern upon it. The contrast between the habitation wishes of its population and the plans of those who formally control the shape of the city remains a constant tension in the structure of the relationships which create the urban complex.' Kidambi notes four major themes in Jim's work: 'First, he has documented the ways in which urban communities, far from being manifestations of primordial cultural identities, were historically reconstituted in the modern city. Second, he has shown a remarkably keen and prescient awareness of the centrality of space in the making and unmaking of these communities. Third, he has highlighted how diverse forms of power, operating at different scales, have structured social relations in the city. And finally, he has also been concerned with how one form of power, that expressed in the discursive practices of nationalism, sought to acquire and exercise hegemony in the city.' Bombay before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim Masselos, edited by Prashant Kidambi, Manjiri Kamat, and Rachel Dwyer. Using these four divisions, Kidambi structured the book of papers that was co-edited by him, Professor Manjiri Kamat of Mumbai University and myself that were published in the UK (Hurst Publishers), India (Penguin) and the USA (Oxford University Press) as Bombay before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim Masselos (2019). These drew from presentations made at a conference held in his honour at the Department of History, University of Mumbai, in 2017. Many urban historians and colleagues remembered him when he passed away. Manjari Kamat wrote to me and said: 'Jim Masselos, an alumnus of University of Mumbai and former Honorary Reader in History at the University of Sydney can be seen as a pioneer among the urban historians of Bombay." "His later writings, particularly his seminal article, The Power in the Bombay Moholla which appeared in the journal, South Asia in 1976 and the articles he published thereafter on crowd events in the city during the nationalist movement inspired historians to shift their attention to neighbourhood networks and popular movements to understand India's urban modernity and the unfolding of the nationalist movement in Bombay. "It was Jim's constant endeavour to connect the present to the past as in the case of his article on the1993 riots juxtaposed with a study of the riots of 1893 that set him apart and reflected his deep engagement with the changes and continuities in his beloved city of Bombay.' Jim's colleague in the University of Sydney, professor Robert Aldrich said: 'Jim was a much loved teacher of courses in Indian history, Southeast Asian history and other fields, his classes always enriched by his sojourns in Asia and his deep appreciation of Asian art, film and culture in general. Jim shared his passion for history and for South Asia. Just last year, a colleague told me how he had just met and chatted with a group of undergraduates whom she was taking to Mumbai for a summer course – and how excited the students were to see one of Jim's books on a display table in a bookshop when they were there. Jim was immensely kind and generous with his students, many of whom became lifelong friends (and some them distinguished scholars in their own right), and they have now been remembering him with great fondness and sadness at his passing.' There is a consensus about Jim that he was not only a fine scholar but a great friend, a supportive mentor, a generous sharer of his time. My husband and I were lucky to get to know Jim over many years, first meeting during the riots in Bombay of December 1992. My husband was unwell, so Jim and I went to wonderful parties hosted by journalists and writers. He introduced me to many film makers including Shyam Benegal and Mani Kaul. I remember walking back from a party on Malabar Hill along Marine Drive talking and laughing uproariously. I kept wondering why my new acquaintances kept saying Michael (now well) looked much younger and better. It was only when he was asked why he'd shaved off his beard I realised they meant Jim which led to much more laughter and wondering if Greek Australians and British Irishmen looked the same. I was a doctoral student when I met Jim and he set me the example of never talking down to people. He talked to everyone with respect and kindness. He had three sisters of whom he was very fond and he occasionally talked about growing up in Sydney of Greek heritage. He used to get me to try to say 'Dimitri' (his Greek name) correctly and laughed at my hopelessly romantic Hellenophilia. Jim certainly had the famous Greek xenophilia – love of foreign people and cultures, the opposite of xenophobia. He had many friends in India from royalty to the ordinary person. He wasn't interested in money or status at all and was happy to tramp around the streets although allowing himself more comfort in retirement. Jim was also extraordinarily hospitable at home, throwing parties and dinners for us, making our way to his kitchen through the books and papers that had spread from his study and were taking over his whole house. He always took time out when we visited to show us around Sydney, his other favourite city. Jim often worked with Jackie Menzies, the Head of the Asian Art at the Art Gallery Gallery of New South Wales, holding conferences there and leaving them most of his enormous collection of Indian artefacts. He was an immensely cultured man and loved art and cinema (though I never persuaded him to like 'Bollywood'). The four of us met several times in Australia and in London and ate at restaurants and drank good wine, creating lifelong memories. One time Jim, Michael and I went to a very fancy restaurant – then the most famous – in Sydney where Jim was allowed to bring some special bottles from his cellar. The waves at Bondi Beach were much louder than usual the next day. Jim had not been in good health for a while and was very ill over the last few months. I had hoped that I would get to see him one last time but it wasn't to be. Perhaps it's best to remember him as he was with his jhola and his cigarette, always smiling and full of great conversation. Eonia i mnimi – eternal memory.
Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
50 years of Emergency: EAM Jaishankar blames 1974 deal for fishermen arrests by Sri Lanka; says consequences still visible in Tamil Nadu
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that the root of the ongoing issue of Sri Lanka arresting Indian fishermen lies in a controversial agreement made during the Emergency era, under which India gave up certain fishing rights. Speaking at an event organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) to mark the 50th anniversary of Emergency, Jaishankar said such a deal would not have gone through if Parliament had been functioning properly at the time. 'We hear about our fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka. The reason is that an agreement was entered into during Emergency under which the rights of the fishermen for fishing in some sea waters of Sri Lanka was abandoned,' Jaishankar said. The 1974 maritime agreement, signed under then the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government, ceded the uninhabited Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. A follow-up agreement in 1976 barred Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen from entering each other's exclusive economic zones—restrictions that continue to affect fishing communities in Tamil Nadu. 'The consequences of this decision are still visible in Tamil Nadu,' the EAM noted. Criticising the Congress for bypassing democratic processes during the Emergency, Jaishankar said, 'Had a genuine Parliament functioned at the time, there would have been a debate and this decision would not be accepted.' He said many major decisions were taken without public or parliamentary scrutiny during that 21-month period, which began on June 25, 1975. Reflecting on the time, Jaishankar recalled police raids in Jawaharlal Nehru University hostels and shared how his family had links with anti-Emergency leaders such as George Fernandes. 'I heard from my seniors in the foreign service how difficult it was to defend India after the murder of the Constitution and democracy by the imposition of Emergency,' he said. In a pointed attack on the Congress leadership, Jaishankar said that an Emergency situation arises when the 'family' is kept ahead of the country. 'Some people keep the copy of Constitution in their pockets but have other intentions in their hearts,' PTI cited the external minister. Without naming Rahul Gandhi directly, he questioned the party's refusal to apologise for the Emergency, saying it was not just a political mistake but an assault on the people's way of life. The younger generation must learn how the Congress strangled the Constitution out of greed for power, he said, referring to the mock parliament conducted by the BJYM. He further added that empowering citizens is the key to preventing any similar situation in future. He also took a swipe at the opposition's repeated claims of an 'undeclared Emergency' under the current government. 'I want to clarify that this is not the time of an Emergency nor will there be one in the future. That is why we are all present here at this mock parliament today,' he said. During the Emergency, Jaishankar pointed out, five Constitutional amendments and 48 Ordinances were passed, one of which prevented Emergency provisions from being challenged in any court. Calling India's peaceful resistance during that time proof that 'democracy is in our DNA,' he said the public's rejection of Emergency through the ballot box eventually led to fresh elections and the restoration of democratic rule. He also touched on moments of unity, saying Operation Sindoor, where even opposition leaders joined efforts to bolster India's global position, reflected 'deep national pride' and stood as an antidote to the authoritarianism of the Emergency. "The events of 50 years ago should not just be viewed as history — they still live on in the minds of many. Therefore, we must remain cautious of those who still have no regret about the Emergency," he said.
