THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Political commentator K Venu, who was jailed towards the fag-end of the Emergency in 1977, believes society has still not learnt to democratize and guard itself against the slippery course towards a time when citizens lose all rights under a totalitarian regime. Mr Venu told DC that even CPM, which suffered under the Emergency, does not make any serious effort to spread democracy to all realms of society, which alone would serve to avert another Emergency. CPI had supported the Emergency. The late Leonid Brezhnev addressed Parliament and supported Indira Gandhi’s declaration of Emergency.
“The CPI believed Indira, the Socialist, was worthy of its support even though she subverted the Constitution and trampled all democratic rights. Even CPM initially thought much of her 21-point development programme”, said Mr Venu, pointing to the lack of a clear political understanding of democracy as a tool for modern governance.
He apportions the major blame to political bosses and bureaucrats, who adopt a feudal attitude towards citizens. In Europe and the West, bureaucrats see themselves as servants of the people, who are basically the reason for their being in government. But here, the rulers are arrogant and expect the people to do their bidding.
The mindset manifests in politicians, when in power. They never organize sessions to educate bureaucrats and police officers to become truly democratic in their orientation. This leads to even parties swearing by revolution becoming agents of oppression, said Mr Venu. Recalling his days in jail, Mr Venu said the then Crime Branch SP, Mr Jayaram Padickal, had offered to fetch him a Government job if only he would abandon Naxal ideology.
“How come a person who has penned ‘Prapanchavum Manushyanum’ subscribe to guerrilla warfare and try to destabilize the country”, Mr Padickal tried to reason out with Mr Venu. This persuasion was short-lived as Indira Gandhi believed the Intelligence forecast of a landslide if elections were held then. She went to polls and faced the rout. That was the end of Emergency.
