The President Takes Over

The First Day of Emergency

  Most of the nation was unaware that emergency had been declared. The early risers who usually tune into the BBC were the first to learn of the event. The event was in the morning news of all the television channels. The news papers had a field day. “President Proclaims Emergency” screamed one headline. “Constitutional Coup” said another. There was hardly any analysis or views. The time had been too short. However, the text of the Presidential Proclamation was carried by most.

  The reactions varied. The working class had little time to digest the news. Who ruled usually made little difference to them. Their only concern was that there may be agitations and bundhs and their days earnings may be affected. The middle class was generally elated. They hoped that something would now be done to reduce the corruption. May be, the government servants would work. May be the trains will run on time. May be the bank and other strikes would stop. After all, these things had actually happened in this country when Mrs. Indira Gandhi had declared emergency in the seventies. Those who believed that Army rule was the only solution for the country’s problems were happy. After all what was the difference between army rule and president's rule? Intellectuals were generally unhappy. They abhorred any intrusion into their freedom and disliked autocratic regimes. The politicians, particularly members of the parliament and those from the state of Assam were distraught at the thought of facing elections. They went into a huddle to decide how to retrieve the situation.

  The President was woken up at 6 AM. He got ready quickly and went to the office. He was relieved to find that troubles had not yet started. It was his experience that people did not take to the streets without a hearty meal. So there were a few hours before things began to happen. The first necessity was to disrupt the political leaders and to prevent them form quickly mobilizing demonstrations. He told his secretary to inform the railways and the various airlines that all VIP quotas stood canceled for the coming week. The quota could now be given only to officers of the defense services or the police and intelligence agencies. That should disrupt the travel plans of the political leaders and give them a taste of the problems faced by the common man.

  He then spoke to the Governors of Haryana and UP and told them that law and order will be maintained at all cost. The key was to prevent large crowds from assembling and creating trouble. Curfew will be selectively imposed at the first hint of trouble. Round the clock surveillance is to be maintained. The Army will be given all assistance in maintaining law and order. Police and Army pickets will be posted at all potential trouble spots.

  The President then spoke to the Chief of Army Staff. He was told that the Joint Control Room had been established and the deployment of troops, paramilitary forces and the police had been coordinated. Aerial surveillance had commenced. The President told the Chief that special vigilance must be maintained around the houses of all MPs and political leaders. No restrictions were to be placed on the movements of these individuals. But formation of crowds at these places was to be prevented. This was to be done by invoking Section 144 (which makes assembly of more than four people illegal) in the area. Only MPs and their staff were to be allowed free movements. Ordinary supporters were to be politely but firmly turned away. The President was to be kept informed of any developments.

  The President asked his secretary to send for the Cabinet Secretary and the Attorney General. When the Cabinet Secretary arrived he told him that the secretaries of the different ministries will be in-charge till Presidential Advisors were appointed. Routine functions would continue as usual. However, no major decisions were to be taken without his concurrence.

  The President further directed that all members of the Lok Sabha were to be informed in writing that they were required to vacate their government accommodation within one month. They should also be informed that their government transport and security was going to be withdrawn and telephones disconnected on the 31st day. The ministry of housing will immediately issue written notices to all unauthorized occupants of Government accommodation in Delhi to vacate their houses within 30 days. If they fail to do so, they are going to be physically evicted. The State Governments will also be directed to issue similar instructions.

  The President further directed that all officers of Government of India, Public Sector Undertakings including nationalized banks and statutory bodies, employees of State Governments, chairmen of State Government enterprises, and heads of cooperative banks and enterprises above the rank of Deputy Secretary will declare their assets on a prescribed form which will be got prepared. In case of sensitive departments like Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, Central and State Exercise Departments, Police, Regional Transport Offices, Revenue Department of Center and States, Municipalities, all officers will declare their assets. They will also declare the assets of their spouses, children and parents. The declaration will include details of all immovable assets and moveable assets costing over Rs 20, 000 with date of acquisition, amount paid and source of funds. They will also declare details of bank accounts, bank or private lockers, shares and fixed deposits held and cash and bank balances. They will also declare the quantity of primary gold and ornaments held with them. The declaration will be submitted to the departmental heads along with a copy to the respective income tax authorities. The officers of the rank of secretary and above will also submit a copy of their declaration to the ministry of finance who will set up a special cell to study these and take follow up action. Any officer who fails to submit the declaration within 30 days will be dismissed from service without pension and gratuity benefits. In case any officer is found to have made a false declaration, the assets not declared will be seized and disposed off and the proceeds will be credited to the Government. The officer will also be dismissed from service without pension and gratuity benefits.

  The President also told the Cabinet Secretary to promulgate that any Government Servant who sublets his government quarter or a part of his government accommodation to another whether for a consideration or without charging rent will be immediately dismissed from service. No Government servant will be allowed to retain government accommodation after transfer or retirement beyond the period allowed as per existing regulation even on payment of market rent. It will be the responsibility of the authority allotting the accommodation to ensure that the premises are vacated. The unauthorized occupants will be forcibly evicted if necessary. The civil services rules will be amended accordingly.

  The President also directed the Cabinet Secretary to have it promulgated that strikes will not be permitted in government organizations or public sector units. Neither will any form of indiscipline like lack of punctuality, absenteeism and lack of performance be tolerated. Defaulters will be severely dealt with.

  He also directed that every evening a press briefing will be held by the public relations departments of the government and the public sector units regarding the measures being taken to root out corruption and improving the functioning of the various agencies. To cut short delays in promulgation of orders, this will be done through the press. The number of government servants dismissed or against whom disciplinary action is initiated would also be mentioned.

  To the Attorney General, the president stated that any writ petition filed in any court against the imposition of the emergency or dismissal of the state governments will be properly defended. He also told the Attorney General that he would like to promulgate a number of ordinances. The first would be on the Representative of Peoples Act which governed elections. He would like to see that undesirable people could not stand elections. The details will be discussed and finalized.

  The second ordinance will be on offenses against the state. Whereas the provisions were the same as listed in the Indian Penal Code or in the Indian Civil Code, when Government property or dues to the Government were involved, all offenses were to be made cognizable, criminal, non bailable offenses with exemplary punishments.

  The third ordinance would prevent the Central and State Gov
ernments from providing and facility like water, electricity to any person free of cost. Differential rates may however be levied provided the differentiation is purely on economic grounds.

  The fourth ordinance will be on crimes of people in authority. Criminals will commit crimes. But when a protector commits a crime the culpability will increase. Thus if a thief carries out a theft, he will be punished under the existing law. But if a policeman carries out a theft or a store keeper misappropriates items from his own store, he if found guilty will be given three times the maximum penalty laid down in the Indian Penal Code. If the culprit happens to be a Government Employee or a Public Servant, he will be automatically dismissed.

  The President told the Attorney General to frame these ordinances on priority and discuss them with him. The President then sat down to select his advisors.

  The Congress Steering Committee meeting at the Prime Ministers house was finding it difficult to find a suitable response to the declaration of Emergency. Rashtria Janta Dal having been ousted from their strong hold in Bihar was on a war path. They wanted large scale and violent demonstrations to be organized all over the country. The Left Parties, the Janta Dal and the regional parties were not at all enthusiastic about this course of action. The President may use these agitations as an excuse to dismiss their governments in the states as he had threatened to do and that would make things even more difficult during the forthcoming elections. They wanted to adopt a legal approach and to go to the Supreme Court with a writ petition challenging the imposition of the Emergency. The debate raged on.

  What disconcerted the leaders was the absence of their followers. Only a handful of them had arrived at the Prime Ministers residence shouting President Murdabad (death to the president)! Emergency Murdabad (death to the emergency)! It was reported that the Army, which was out on the streets in strength with their fighting vehicles, were not allowing the supporters to come. It was finally decided that a writ petition would be filed in the morrow in the Supreme Court and the MPs would lead a protest march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Rashtriya Janta Dal called it the great betrayal.

  The situation in the Congress camp was similar. The MPs were holding a meeting at the residence of the Party President. But no solution appeared to be in sight. The members from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal were against any precipitate action for fear of the state governments being dismissed. The others wanted agitation. All agreed on filing a writ petition in the Supreme Court. They also decided to hold demonstrations in the states which were not governed by the Congress. Some of the MP s from Delhi volunteered to organize agitations. It was also decided to declare Bundhs in all states and in Delhi.

  The leaders were puzzled by the absence of their followers. They learnt that section 144 had been promulgated and their supporters were being turned back by Army contingents.

  The BJP leaders were meeting in their party office to review the situation. On the whole they were happy. They had wanted the dismissal of the present Government and fresh elections. These wishes had been granted. But this assertiveness of the President was dangerous. Some form of protest was necessary. But it may not be a good strategy to antagonize the President when it seemed unlikely that anything would come off it. It was decided that a policy of wait and watch should be adopted. Law and order was to be maintained in the BJP ruled states at all cost.

  In the evening, the President reviewed the situation with the Chief of the Defense Services, the Director Generals of BSF and CRPF, the heads of the intelligence agencies and the chief of Delhi Police. There were reports of minor demonstrations from the states. There had been one case of firing in Haryana and two persons were reported killed. The chiefs of the intelligence agencies gave out what they had learnt of the game plans of the political parties. They also gave out their assessment of the expected developments over the next few days. They felt that maximum trouble could be expected in Haryana and Samajwadi Party strong holds in UP. There could also be some trouble in Mumbai. The ruling coalition and Congress Party had given a call for Bharat Bandh. Though the Bandh was expected to be peaceful in most places, attempts are likely to be made to disrupt road and rail services, particularly in Assam and UP.

  The President stressed the need to demonstrate the Governments determination to maintain law and order at all cost. He told the Chief of the Air Force to organize aerial surveillance of the railway lines passing through Bihar and West Bengal using fighter reconnaissance aircraft. He also ordered the mobilization of troop carrying helicopters at Guwahati, Calcutta, Gaya, Lucknow and Delhi. He told the Army Chief to organize Para Commando teams to be positioned to clear any rail or road disruptions at the earliest possible once they were reported. He also suggested that video film coverage by the media should be arranged with each team and all actions should be filmed. Troops were to act firmly but with restraint. Loudspeakers should be available with all columns. The crowd should be given five minutes to begin to disperse. Firing, except in self defense will be by three persons, one round at a time with gaps of five minutes for the crowd to disperse after each firing. The fire will be aimed fire and directed at the leaders of the crowd. The same instructions would be applicable to police and para-military forces. Where ever necessary leaders will be taken into preventive detention. The same should be done in the case of known criminal with political patronage, particularly in Delhi. Army and para military presence on the streets should be increased to discourage crowd formation. Aerial surveillance by reconnaissance helicopters of Delhi and other trouble prone cities would continue.

  He told the press secretary to announce through all television channels and on radio that all political demonstrations were banned throughout the country for the duration of the emergency.

  The President listened to the various news channels. The reactions were on expected lines. There was world wide condemnation of the imposition of emergency but mostly in media channels. The Governments of the world adopted a wait and watch policy. Indian media was no different. Most intellectuals and political leaders denounced the imposition of emergency. There was only one major violent incident. The people had taken the situation in their stride. The President was satisfied with the situation. Round one certainly belonged to the President.

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