Keshav Dev Democracy Fighter
– Photo: Amar Ujala
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Emergency was imposed in the country on the night of 25 June 1975. His bitter memories are still fresh in the minds of democracy fighters. During this time in the night, these people used to write posters and slogans on the walls in protest against the Emergency. The police used to raid throughout the night. More than 17 people from the area went to jail. He shared the experience of that period with Amar Ujala. The democracy fighters of the town have demanded that the golden age of freedom is going on. Those who have completed 75 years of age should be given the gift of exemption in railway travel.
Town’s Dinesh Chand Varshney, Somprakash Varshney, Madhav Prakash Goyal, Dr. Narayan Dutt Sharma, former MLA Ramsharan Arya alias Lahtu Tau, Puran Chandra Agarwal, Keshav Dev Garg, Kundanlal, Ramkhiloni, Ashok Shah of Sahapau, Kaptan Singh Yadav of Tharoura, Tulsidas Aggarwal and Rajpal Singh of Bisawar, Ramesh Chandra of Madhaka, Suresh Chandra of Sorai, Ramu Darji, Virendra Singh advocate of Mathura were arrested on January 11, 1976 from Mathura for opposing the Emergency. After being in jail for 18 days, he was released on bail on 29 January. Apart from putting up posters at various places, he raised his voice against the Emergency by writing on the wall. On October 1994, the people who fought against the Emergency were given the status of democracy fighters and pension was arranged for them.
Democracy fighter Dinesh Chandra Varshney says that the foundation of Emergency was laid on June 12, 1975 itself. On this day, the Allahabad High Court found Prime Minister Indira Gandhi guilty of misuse of government machinery in the Rae Bareilly election campaign and rejected her election. Not only this, Indira Gandhi was also banned from contesting elections for six years and holding any kind of post. On June 24, 1975, the Supreme Court upheld the decision but allowed Indira Gandhi to continue as Prime Minister. Then Jaiprakash Narayan called for daily demonstrations across the country till Indira Gandhi’s resignation. Because of this, Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in the country.
Keshav Dev Garg points out that this was the day when the fundamental rights of the citizens were suspended. During the Emergency, all the big leaders of the opposition including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Mulayam Singh Yadav were jailed. Newspapers were censored as soon as the Emergency was imposed.
Expressing pain, Tulsidas Agarwal of Bisawar said that at that time poor laborers were forcibly sterilized in the name of population control. There was an atmosphere of panic everywhere. Today efforts are made to forget the Emergency but how can people forget the experiences of the dark days. Somprakash Varshney says that after the declaration of emergency, a case was registered against Sultan Singh Pachauri, Master Pratap Singh Verma, Suresh Chand Varshney, Kailash Chand, Mr. Gopal Jaiswal, Prem Ballabh, Madhav Prakash etc. while meeting in Krishna Vedic Library . The main center of underground activities against the Emergency used to be his residence and the residence of Vedram Prajapati, which was away from the population. Democracy fighters used to take shelter here at night to escape from the police.
