Latest news with #post-Emergency


Economic Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
We toppled Vasantdada govt in 1978, but he proposed my name for CM 10 yrs later: Sharad Pawar
Synopsis Sharad Pawar revealed he orchestrated the 1978 toppling of Vasantdada Patil's Maharashtra government, highlighting the Congress party's internal divisions post-Emergency. A decade later, Patil surprisingly proposed Pawar for the chief minister's role, showcasing the Congress's "large-hearted leadership" at the time, prioritizing party unity despite past conflicts. Pawar emphasized this act as an example of ideological commitment over personal grievances. ANI NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar has said he led the move the topple the Maharashtra government headed by Vasantdada Patil in 1978, but the same leader proposed his name for the chief minister's post a decade was the kind of "large-hearted leadership" the Congress had at the time, Pawar, who had a long stint in the opposition party, said at an event here on Saturday. Pawar snapped ties with the Congress in 1999 and co-founded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In July 2023, the NCP split after Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar joined the then Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government. The 84-year-old Rajya Sabha member, who served as Maharashtra's CM multiple times, recalled that after Emergency, the grand old party split into the Congress (Indira) and Swarn Singh Congress. Pawar said he remained in the Swarn Singh Congress with his mentor Yashwantrao Chavan at the time, but neither side had a clear majority in the elections that subsequently took place. "Eventually, we came together and made Vasantdada the chief minister. However, many of us young workers had a resentment against Congress (I), since we were aligned with Chavan saheb. So there was a gap. Dada tried to bridge it, but we opposed it," the former Union minister said."I was among the key opponents. As a result, we decided to bring down the government and we did. I became the chief minister," he recalled."Why am I saying this? Because ten years later, we were all united again," Pawar pointed a meeting was called to decide the next CM, many names were discussed - Ramrao Adik, Shivajirao Nilangekar, he added."But dada said 'no more have to rebuild the party. Sharad will lead it'," Pawar said. "Imagine the same leader whose government I brought down, he put all that aside and chose unity for ideology. That was the kind of large-hearted leadership we had in the Congress," the former CM said.


Time of India
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Visage of struggles: The eventful life story of V S Achuthanandan, spanning over a century, coincides with Kerala's own growth story
How you die points out to how you lived. At 101 years, V S Achuthanandan fought death for 28 days. If there is one word that can define VS, it is: Struggle. All his life he struggled for various causes, both social and political. He had a sun-tanned visage of a weather-resilient Kuttanad farmer and seldom smiled. His speeches were often vitriolic and uttered with a trademark drawl, bordering on a Lalu kind of rustic, base humour. He lacked an E K Nayanar kind of smiling charisma or a Jyoti Basu kind of erudite sophistication that would attract the Bhadralok, in this case the unpredictable middle class Kerala voter, who had no qualms voting en masse for Indira Gandhi in the post-Emergency polls. But ironically, it was the intelligentsia, the erudite middle class, including women, who felt VS stood for the underdog and voted him to power on the sheer virtue of his relentless pursuit for equitable justice. Here was a classic case where a credible voice surpassed a bulldog visage and became the conscience of Kerala from early 2000 until he was eased out by 2016. One of the poignant moments in VS's political career was when Sitaram Yechury announced his bête noire Pinarayi Vijayan's name for the chief minister's post after the 2016 polls. VS then said, 'VS will remain the Fidel Castro in the minds of people...'' but shared the stage with Pinarayi with a wry smile. The biggest contribution of VS would be that he was able to build upon the VS brand successfully, especially in a state which has few role models. Even among his peers, cutting across all political parties, he would remain among few political leaders who raised the bar of humanistic values. If VS would have been active today, there is no doubt that he would have been at the protest site of ASHAs, supporting their cause, like how he went to Munnar to support Pembilai Orumai, the women tea workers who had gone on strike demanding higher wages in 2016. His eventful life story, spanning over a century, coincided with Kerala's own growth story, its immense socialistic achievements and search for equitable social justice. His grand failures also provide a glimpse of how the politics of opportunism subverted foundational values of accountability, making VS brand of politics irrelevant in CPM's juggernaut. This is not to undermine what VS managed to achieve in an 80-year political career. His evolution from a mofussil coir factory union leader in rural Kuttanad, where his main role was to settle disputes, at times even using militant force, to a transformative leader happened only because he listened to the voice of the underdog. VS took a bold stand against violence of all forms, which brought him in direct conflict not only with the UDF govt but even with the CPM politburo. The acrimonious Pinarayi versus VS fights that went on for over three decades until the former had the last laugh should not be seen as just a squabble for the spoils of power, but as a deeper ideological battle. The Pinarayi school stands for massive private investment, a la China model of development and the VS school stands for equitable distribution of wealth with minimal damages to the remaining green zones. Critics, including a section of the current CPM leadership, question the socialistic model of development and call it outdated. Maybe that was one of the reasons that even though VS campaigned extensively in 2016 polls, the CM mantle went to Pinarayi and with it a new kind of developmental agenda. Unlike his peers like AKG, EMS or Nayanar, VS did not come from a privileged background. He lost both his parents — mother at the age of four and father when he was 11. He said even though he cried and pleaded to God to save them, his ardent prayers were never heard and ever since then he never looked for God anywhere. In school, he did face caste discrimination and when his classmate called him Chovan, a slur for Ezhavas, he responded by hitting his classmate with a belt. Aggression was in his blood, but as he matured, he put it to better use and became an activist-politician, much to the chagrin of the establishment. He barely managed to study till seventh standard and though he was good at studies, abject poverty forced him to take the job at the cloth shop run by his brother. He was part of the Punnapra-Vayalar agitation, was arrested and suffered a third-degree torture in jail. The police dumped him, thinking he was dead. And yet he survived to become a mass leader from Alappuzha, until the Communist Party of India split in 1964 into CPI and CPI(Marxist). VS was an integral part of 32 founding leaders who formed the CPI(M) and was the last surviving member from that group. He faced some harsh criticism for pushing what was seen as a pastoral developmental agenda and Tughlaqian moves like cutting down banana plantations in order to protect wetlands. Yet, post 2018 floods, his resistance to unscrupulous development and conservation of the green zone acquires real significance. The sustainable framework of development is in sync with what many modern societies are adhering to, in order to mitigate the impact of climate change. VS stood for the underdog and for the empowerment of women much before it became a fashionable statement. No wonder women formed a solid vote base, even when the establishment wanted to get rid of him. VS was also a shrewd politician using the mass media to his advantage to build the VS brand, in a state that had few political heroes to look up to. He took the television crew traversing through high ranges of Idukki, to destroy hundreds of acres of poppy crops. He fought for women's justice, green issues, communal agendas and dreamed of a society based on equitable distribution of wealth. VS was an atheist, but he loved Bhagavad Gita, which he read several times, and was an avid yoga practitioner. Is he a misnomer in the current context of water-tight ideologies of Left and Right, where corruption is overlooked in the name of development? Maybe. The best political legacy that VS perhaps leaves behind would be what he failed to achieve, rather than what he sought to destroy. In that constant struggle from darkness to light lies his relevance.


Time of India
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Visage of Struggles
1 2 How you die points out to how you lived. At 101 years, V S Achuthanandan fought death for 28 days. If there is one word that can define VS, it is: Struggle. All his life he struggled for various causes, both social and political. He had a sun-tanned visage of a weather-resilient Kuttanad farmer and seldom smiled. His speeches were often vitriolic and uttered with a trademark drawl, bordering on a Laloo kind of rustic, base humor. He lacked an E K Nayanar kind of smiling charisma or a Jyoti Basu kind of erudite sophistication that would attract the Bhadralok, in this case the unpredictable middle class Kerala voter, who had no qualms voting en masse for Indira Gandhi in the post-Emergency polls. But ironically, it was the intelligentsia, the erudite middle class, including women, who felt VS stood for the underdog and voted him to power on the sheer virtue of his relentless pursuit for equitable justice. Here was a classic case where a credible voice surpassed a bulldog visage and became the conscience of Kerala from early 2000 until he was eased out by 2016. One of the poignant moments in VS' political career was when Sitaram Yechury announced his bête noire Pinarayi Vijayan's name for the chief minister's post after the 2016 polls. He then said, "VS will remain as the Fidel Castro in the minds of people...'' but shared the stage with Pinarayi with a wry smile. The biggest contribution of VS would be that he was able to build upon the VS brand successfully, especially in a state which has few role models. Even among his peers, cutting across all political parties, he would remain among few political leaders who raised the bar of humanistic values. If VS would have been active today, there is no doubt that he would have been at the protest site of ASHAs, supporting their cause, like how he went to Munnar to support Pembillai Ormai, the women tea workers who had gone on strike demanding higher wages in 2016. His eventful life story, spanning over a century, coincided with Kerala's own growth story, its immense socialistic achievements and search for equitable social justice. His grand failures also provide a glimpse of how the politics of opportunism subverted foundational values of accountability, making VS brand of politics irrelevant in CPM's juggernaut. This is not to undermine what VS managed to achieve in an 80-year political career. His evolution from a mofussil coir factory union leader in rural Kuttanad, where his main role was to settle disputes, at times even using militant force, to a transformative leader happened only because he listened to the voice of the underdog. VS took a bold stand against violence of all forms, which brought him in direct conflict not only with the UDF govt but even with the CPM politburo. The acrimonious Pinarayi versus VS fights that went on for over three decades until the former had the last laugh should not be seen as just a squabble for the spoils of power, but as a deeper ideological battle. The Pinarayi school stands for massive private investment, ala China model of development and the VS school stands for equitable distribution of wealth with minimal damages to the remaining green zones. Critics, including a section of the current CPM leadership, question the socialistic model of development and call it outdated. Maybe that was one of the reasons that even though VS campaigned extensively in 2016 polls, the CM mantle went to Pinarayi and with it a new kind of developmental agenda. Unlike his peers like AKG, EMS or Nayanar, VS did not come from a privileged background. He lost both his parents — mother at the age of four and father when he was 11. He said even though he cried and pleaded to God to save them, his ardent prayers were never heard and ever since then he never looked for God anywhere. In school, he did face caste discrimination and when his classmate called him Chonnan, a slur for Ezhavas, he responded by hitting his classmate with a belt. Aggression was in his blood, but as he matured, he put it to better use and became an activist-politician, much to the chagrin of the establishment. He barely managed to study till seventh standard and though he was good at studies, abject poverty forced him to take the job at the cloth shop run by his brother. He was part of the Punnapra-Vayalar agitation, was arrested and suffered a third-degree torture in jail. The police dumped him, thinking he was dead. And yet he survived to become a mass leader from Alappuzha, until the Communist Party of India split in 1964 into CPI and CPI(Marxist). VS was an integral part of 32 founding leaders who formed the CPI(M) and was the last surviving member from that group. He faced some harsh criticism for pushing what was seen as a pastoral developmental agenda and Tugalqian moves like cutting down banana plantations in order to protect wetlands. Yet, post 2018 floods, his resistance to unscrupulous development and conservation of the green zone acquires real significance. The sustainable framework of development is in sync with what many modern societies are adhering to, in order to mitigate the impact of climate change. VS stood for the underdog and for the empowerment of women much before it became a fashionable statement. No wonder women formed a solid vote base, even when the establishment wanted to get rid of him. VS was also a shrewd politician using the mass media to his advantage to build the VS brand, in a state that had few political heroes to look up to. He took the television crew traversing through high ranges of Idukki, to destroy hundreds of acres of poppy crops. He fought for women's justice, green issues, communal agendas and dreamed of a society based on equitable distribution of wealth. VS was an atheist, but he loved Bhagavad Gita, which he read several times, and was an avid yoga practitioner. Is he a misnomer in the current context of water-tight ideologies of Left and Right, where corruption is overlooked in the name of development? Maybe. The best political legacy that VS perhaps leaves behind would be what he failed to achieve, rather than what he sought to destroy. In that constant struggle from darkness to light lies his relevance.


Time of India
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Stay vigilant to safeguard Constitution: PM on Emergency
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday recalled the 'dark chapter of Emergency' imposed 50 years ago and urged citizens to remain vigilant to safeguard the Constitution. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address, the PM quoted three prominent politicians from different ideologies, including two former prime ministers, to showcase how people from all walks had joined hands against imposition of Emergency in 1975. Modi played archival audio recordings of speeches by former prime ministers Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and former home minister Jagjivan Ram, recounting the atrocities faced by people during the Emergency period. The PM quoted Desai as saying, 'The oppression that happened for two years... reached its peak when Emergency was imposed on people and people were treated inhumanely.' Modi added, 'This is the voice of the former PM of the country, Morarji Bhai Desai, who spoke about the Emergency in a brief but very clear manner.' 'You can imagine what that period was like. Those who imposed Emergency not only murdered our Constitution but also had the intention to keep the judiciary as their slave,' he said. The PM noted that over one lakh people were jailed, and politicians like George Fernandes were chained, with many enduring 'severe torture' under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). He mentioned Jagjivan Ram, who called the post-Emergency election 'a great campaign to strengthen the foundation of democracy', and Vajpayee, who described it as 'a peaceful revolution' that 'threw the killers of democracy into the dustbin of history'. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 식후 혈당, "이것" 하나면 고민 필요없다. 단 2주만에..! 당뇨 관리 더 알아보기 Undo Shifting to other issues, the PM also mentioned the 10th International Day of Yoga (IDY) on June 21, which saw global participation. He highlighted events like three lakh people practising yoga on Visakhapatnam beach, 2,000 Adivasi students performing 108 surya namaskars, and ITBP soldiers practising in the Himalayas.


The Print
18-06-2025
- Politics
- The Print
On eve of Nilambur bypoll, ruling CPI(M) and Congress-led UDF lock horns over past ties with RSS
On the sidelines of the campaigning, CPI(M) general secretary M.V. Govindan was asked in a TV interview how the party could attack the UDF's engagement with Jamaat when it too has worked with such forces. He replied that while the Left had never politically aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami, there had been instances of support. He went further, referencing past ties with the RSS during the post-Emergency period. The row erupted after CPI(M) general secretary M.V. Govindan, during a TV interview, referred to a post-Emergency alliance involving the RSS, drawing sharp criticism from the Opposition, which accused the Left of hypocrisy even as it targets the UDF for accepting Jamaat-e-Islami's support in the Nilambur assembly bypoll. Thiruvananthapuram: Hours before the crucial Nilambur bypoll, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are locked in a war of words over past ties with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). 'RSS was formed in 1925. But we never supported their stand. After the Emergency in 1967, didn't we join hands with the RSS? That was the situation then. The RSS is a communal force, but during the Emergency, when the country was heading towards fascism, everyone opposing it stood together, in Kerala and across India,' Govindan said in the interview to Mathrubhumi Wednesday. The Janata Party, formed in 1977 to oppose Indira Gandhi's regime, had brought together the Jan Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal, and Socialist Party—an alliance that saw cooperation from the CPI(M) as well. The coalition's landslide win saw Morarji Desai become the first non-Congress Prime Minister. But the statement triggered a political firestorm in Kerala, a state where BJP, which considers RSS as its ideological parent, is aggressively trying to find footing, but still struggling. Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the timing of the statement was not a coincidence. 'It may seem untimely, but this was a calculated move. Why is the CPI(M) remembering this past now? It's a coded call for help—a signal to the RSS–BJP that they can be partners again,' he alleged Thursday. Satheesan said BJP's initial reluctance to field a candidate in Nilambur hinted at tacit coordination with the Left. He also accused the CPI(M) of running a communal, Islamophobic campaign to win RSS support. Incidentally, the CPI(M) has been attacking the Congress-led UDF for accepting the support of Jamaat-e-Islami in the aftermath of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, terming the organisation 'communal'. The party renewed its attack recently after the organisation openly supported the Congress in the Nilambur bypoll. Being conducted months before the state's Assembly election, the bypoll is considered a preview of the larger electoral battle ahead. Voting is to be held Thursday. Satheesan alleged that the CPI(M) had colluded with BJP to defeat the Congress's Rajiv Gandhi again in 1989. He produced a photograph of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Jyoti Basu, and E.M.S. Namboodiripad together to support his claim. The 1989 general election saw significant changes in the Indian political and coalition history. With the Bofors scandal marring its image, the Congress's seats came down to 197 from the 404 it got in 1984, followed by V.P. Singh's Janata Dal (142) and the National Front. The Opposition led by the Janata Dal, formed the coalition government with the support of BJP and the left parties. 'One of the primary explanations for the success of the Dal was its ability to work out a significant number (89) of effective electoral seat adjustments with the other major opposition parties—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in northern and western India and the Left Front (the two Indian Communist parties and two small Marxist parties, the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party) in eastern India. On 2 December 1989, V.P. Singh, the JD leader, was sworn in as Indian Prime Minister, and on 21 December 1989, the Janata Dal/National Front Government won a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha by a voice vote,' writes Lewis P. Fickett in the Asian Survey's 1993 journal The Rise and Fall of Janata Dal. 'We have always maintained a single stand against the RSS. The allegations are just to create a controversy ahead of polls,' CPI(M) MLA from Malappuram's Ponnani, P. Nandakumar, told ThePrint. However, Nandakumar refused to respond to the Congress's allegation about the left alliance with the RSS and the BJP after the Emergency. Govindan holds press conference As the controversy gained traction, Govindan Wednesday held a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, saying his words were being distorted to make him appear sympathetic to communal forces. 'The Emergency was a period of semi-fascism. The Janata Party, which we supported, was not just the Jana Sangh. It was a broad front of socialists, democrats, and Emergency opponents. Yes, Jana Sangh was part of it—but RSS was not a prominent force in that alliance,' he clarified. 'CPI(M) has never formed and will never form a partnership with the RSS—past, present, or future,' Govindan said. Earlier in the day, Nilambur candidate M. Swaraj also reiterated that the alliance in 1977 was necessitated by circumstances, but once the RSS's influence in Janata Party grew, the CPI(M) backed off. He said in the consecutive bypolls in Kasargode, Thalassery, Thiruvalla, and Parassala, Namboodiripad famously said the party doesn't need RSS votes, reinforcing the Left's commitment to secularism. 'We won all four seats. That statement boosted secular forces in Kerala,' Swaraj said. The CPI(M) also pushed back by accusing the Congress of its own ties with the RSS during the 1958–59 Liberation Struggle. The Liberation Struggle was an anti-communist movement against the first Kerala government, backed by the Syro-Malabar Church, Nair Service Society, the Muslim League, and the Congress. Congress candidate for the Nilambur bypoll Aryadan Shoukath too jumped into the debate, saying, 'In 1977, the Congress lost power for the first time because the Left openly aligned with the Jan Sangh. We all know these alliances can return. Remember, L.K. Advani inaugurated V. Sivadasa Menon's election convention in Palakkad.' The Congress had earlier accused the CPI(M) of diluting its stand against BJP after the party's draft resolution ahead of the 24th Party Congress used the word 'neo-fascist' for the BJP. However, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member clarified that the resolution referred to 'neo-fascism' and 'neo-fascist tendencies' as they represented an ideological trend distinct from the 'classical fascism' that emerged globally in the early 20th century. In the party's state conference in Kollam earlier this year, Prakash Karat said Modi government's 11-year rule is showing 'neo-fascistic characteristics' in its aggressive push for Hindutva and neo-liberal agendas, warning that it will develop into 'full-fledged fascism, if not resisted'. (Edited by Viny Mishra) Also read: Nilambur bypoll: How Anvar, once Kerala's richest MLA, is adding twist to crucial LDF-UDF contest