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Business Standard

Best of BS Opinion: Ghosts return when we forget why they were banished

There's a superstition in every family. Some refuse to say the name of a dead relative who brought more harm than good. Some keep a room locked, an old letter unread, a photograph hidden behind a newer one. Not because they want to forget, but because they want to remember right. That is because a ghost must be remembered, precisely so it is not counted among the living and allowed to raise hell again. Let's dive in. On the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, the unnamed ghost is easy to see. June 25, 1975 was not merely a date, it was a descent into sanctioned silence. With habeas corpus gone, opposition crushed, and media blinded, the darkness was not just metaphorical. As memories fade, so too does vigilance. Yet, as our first editorial notes, the legal aftershocks lasted until 2017. The Emergency was not a one-off horror but a recurring lesson in how institutions like the courts, press, and even Parliament, can be turned against the people they are meant to serve. Meanwhile, another spectre lurks in the form of India's demographic dividend. Our second editorial cautions: the window opened in 2019 when the population between 15 and 64 began to dominate the number of children and the elderly, but time is ticking. Without high growth, skilled labour, and meaningful reform in health and education, our advantage could rot into a liability. Like a ghost that once offered promise, but now rattles chains of regret. A K Bhattacharya shows how the Centre's approach to public sector undertakings is shaped by ghosts of past policies, shifting from privatisation dreams to PSU-led capital expenditure. While this approach powered post-Covid recovery, it may not remain sustainable without new funding sources. And in Debarpita Roy's column, the spectre is social exclusion. The PMAY scheme works in small towns, but in India's largest cities, EWS housing plans are haunted by delays, poor design, and worse demand. Until cities prioritise serviced plots and rental reforms over distant, vertical ghettos, the urban poor will remain stuck in the ghost neighbourhoods of failed intentions. Finally, in Kanika Datta's review of 1945: The Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World, the ghost is colonial hypocrisy. Phil Craig revisits WWII's end not as a heroic Allied victory, but a cynical return to empire-building. While flawed in rigour, the book still reminds us that many post-war promises were buried alive, not fulfilled.