‘Interview was on day Emergency was revoked': Jaishankar recalls his UPSC journey

Indian Express

20-07-2025

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday reminisced about his entry into the civil services, saying his UPSC interview in Delhi took place on March 21, 1977 — the day the Emergency was lifted.
'(1977) Election results were coming from the previous day… The sense of the defeat of the Emergency rule was coming into understanding. In a way, that is what got me through the interview,' he said in his address at an event here.
Walking down memory lane, Jaishankar, then 22, said he had returned from the interview with two key takeaways — the significance of communication under pressure and that important people may be living in a 'bubble'.
In his address to a gathering of the fresh batch of entrants to the civil services, the EAM termed the UPSC examination akin to an 'Agni Pariksha' (trial by fire), and said it is a 'very unique' testing system in the world to select candidates for the services.
The real challenge is the interview, Jaishankar said, and cited his own UPSC interview that took place 48 years ago.
'My interview was on March 21, 1977. That was the day the Emergency was revoked. Revoked! So, I go in for an interview at Shahjahan Road… First person that morning,' recalls Jaishankar, now 70.
Nearly a month ago, the Modi government marked the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, with events held across the country to recall what its leaders called a 'dark chapter' in Indian democracy.
The 21-month Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975 and lifted on March 21, 1977.
The Janata Party, a coalition of opposition leaders, emerged victorious in the 1977 elections, handing a defeat to Indira Gandhi, and Morarji Desai became the prime minister.
Jaishankar said, in the interview, he was asked about what had happened in the 1977 elections.
Citing his association with JNU as a student and his subject of political science, the EAM reminisced, 'I was lucky.'
'We had taken part in the 1977 election campaign. We had all gone there and worked for the defeat of the Emergency,' Jaishankar said.
So, in response, 'I forgot I was in an interview', and at that moment, 'my communication skills somehow came together,' he added.
Jaishankar, a veteran diplomat who earlier served as foreign secretary and has widely travelled, said at that time, to explain to people who were 'quite connected, sympathetic to the government, what had happened, without offending them, was actually quite a challenge'.
And, the second thing he said, he learned that day, of this 'Lutyens' bubble'.
'These people were really shocked, they could not believe that this election result had happened, whereas for us, the ordinary students, we could see that there was a wave against the Emergency,' the EAM recalled of the interview experience.
From that day, he said he learned how to communicate under pressure and to do it without offending people.
'How do you persuade, how do you explain. This was one carry-away. The second carry-away was that important people may be living in a bubble and not realising what is happening in the country,' the Union minister said.
And, people in the field, because students like him who were part of the campaigns, and had visited places such as Muzaffarnagar, 'we had picked up a sense on the ground', but, people sitting in Delhi, with all the information from all the systems, 'somehow they missed it,' he said.
In his address, he also asked what the barometer is to assess a successful democracy, saying it is not by voting record or voting percentage.
'To me, a successful democracy is when opportunity is given to the entire society; that is when democracy is working. They have the right to express themselves, but it is not a few people, on behalf of the whole society… expressing themselves,' Jaishankar said, without elaborating.
He exhorted the gathering of successful UPSC candidates to remember that they are all 'entering into a service'.
'This Amrit Kaal of 25 years is your era. Your era, because you will have to work, you will have to deliver, and you will be the beneficiaries of this era, you will be the leaders of this era,' the EAM said.
He urged them all to contribute to the vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
'I want you to think 20 years ahead… When we move towards the journey of Viksit Bharat, what will be your contribution? And, the mindset that you have to bring to realise that dream of making a developed nation,' he added.
He emphasised that good governance is also related to national security.
To new entrants to the civil services, he emphasised that 'representing India abroad, representing India before the world, is the greatest privilege, the greatest honour that any Indian can have'.
The EAM said he had 'no doubt that by 2030, we will become number 3, economically. But, moving to number 2 and eventually up, will be a big deal, and it will be tough, and will need big, national efforts'.
In the next 20 years of your service, you have to know that 'big changes' will be coming. The coming era will be of AI, drones, space and EV and green hydrogen, he asserted.
The external affairs minister said in the Indo-Pacific region, 'Our capabilities should be such that whatever challenges come, India is ready to step forward and assume responsibility, we call it a first responder. How do you prepare India to be a first responder?'.