The Hindu Business Line : `Emergency' response from humour

Every dark moment has a lighter touch to it, as people turn to humour to lighten the grimness of the situation. So it was during the dark days of the 1975-77 Emergency. Monday marked the 32nd anniversary of the proclamation of Emergency (June 25, 1975) when for two long years the nation remained under an eclipse.

As fundamental rights, including freedom of speech, were suspended, there was an atmosphere of cloak-and-dagger that persisted right through the period. But journalists who were also targets of punitive action by the authorities had their own lighter moments to relieve the grim atmosphere. The butt of humour and sarcasm were, as can be expected, the politicians and the authorities.

One of the soft targets was President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who was roused from his sleep to sign the Emergency proclamation. He did not even bother to check if the decision had the approval of the Union Cabinet, which was a pre-requisite. Like V. V. Giri, one of his predecessors, Ahmed was dubbed `a rubber stamp' who said `yes' to whatever Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told him.

One of the jokes about him came from a meeting between city reporters and a high-ranking Bombay police officer. The police officer was looking for a match for his daughter. Despite his best efforts he could not get the `right' bridegroom as his daughter was, in his own words, "too demanding." Looking around to ensure there was no stranger, the officer uttered in undertone: "What my daughter wants is not a Pati (husband) but a Rashtrapati!"

In early 1976, the four independent and privately run news agencies were merged to become Samachar that came under direct government control despite protests by employees and proprietors. It functioned much like a government agency, a la the Tass of the erstwhile Soviet Union.Samachar was dismantled in April 1978, a full year after the Janata Party government came to power, leading to the restoration of PTI and the other three news agencies. A colleague would often ask, "Do you know who is responsible for the end of Samachar?," and also provide the answer: "The news reader of AIR's Hindi news bulletins who always ended saying, `Samachar samapth hua' (That is the end of Samachar (news)."

(The author, a former deputy editor with PTI, is a New Delhi-based freelance journalist. Feedback can be sent to rajamanirc@gmail.com)