The Leaflet / by Arvind Narrain

On June 25, we mark the 47th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The events of the emergency have long since faded into history, but there are uncanny resonances with the contemporary context…
The use of the UAPA and the NIA by the current regime is, in Vajpayee’s language, the ‘beginning of the police state’ and a ‘blot on democracy’. Advani’s warning of the use of MISA against the opposition finds a resonance in the use of UAPA and NIA against protestors, be it the Bhima Koregaon 16, anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors, Kashmiri protestors or a range of dissenters across the country. 
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