Patna : A Bihar government website has said that Indira Gandhi’s rule was worse than that of the British, angering the state Congress which is a constituent of the ruling coalition.
The references to the “autocratic rule” of Indira Gandhi and the “oppression” perpetrated during the Emergency have been made in a write up on Bihar’s history. The write-up, while mentioning the contribution of Jai Prakash Narayan or JP to modern Indian history, says, “It was he who steadfastly and staunchly opposed the autocratic rule of Indira Gandhi and her younger son Sanjay Gandhi.
“Fearing people’s reaction to his (JP’s) opposition, Indira Gandhi had him arrested on the eve of Emergency beginning June 26, 1975. He was put in the Tihar Jail, where notorious criminals are jailed. “Thus, in Free India, this septuagenarian (JP), who had fought for India’s freedom alongside Indira Gandhi’s father, Jawahar Lal Nehru, received a treatment that was worse than what the British had meted out to Gandhiji in Champaran in 1917, for speaking out against oppression.”
Angered over this, state Congress leader Chandan Yadav said the references are “totally unacceptable” and that his party will initially raise the issue at a party forum with the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and then with the state chief minister Nitish Kumar.
According to the content in the website, the movement started by JP brought the Emergency to an end, led to the massive defeat of Indira Gandhi and her Congress Party at the hustings, and, to the installation of a non-Congress government in Delhi for the first time.
