Posted at: Oct 11 2015 1:20AMMG Devasahayam‘Prisoner JP’ in Chandigarh, 40 years ago
District Magistrate of Chandigarh in 1975 recalls the days Jayaprakash Narayan spent under his watch after being arrested during Emergency — from July 1 when he was brought to the city till November 12, when he was released. Four days later, he was taken to Bombay for medical treatment.
The writer (right) with Jayaprakash Narayan at the latter’s residence in Patna in 1977.Today is the 113th birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), a fiery freedom fighter who inflamed the ‘Quit India Movement’ (1942) with his daring escape from the high-security Hazaribagh jail and post Independence had become the conscience of the nation. When the Emergency was proclaimed on the night of June 25-26, 1975, he was arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) by the District Magistrate, Delhi. On the night of July 1, he was brought to Chandigarh, where I was the District Magistrate, for safe custody and medical care. The writer (right) with Jayaprakash Narayan at the latter’s residence in Patna in 1977.When I received ‘prisoner JP’ at the Chandigarh Air Force base along with Senior Superintendent of Police ML Bhanot and Air Commodore Bhasin, my impression of the old man was that though in normal health, he was perplexed and disjointed and did not know what was happening. One central thread that stretched through the period of JP’s confinement in Chandigarh was the confused and erratic attitude of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in dealing with him as ‘prisoner’. JP and his wife Prabhavati Devi being close family friends of Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru, he was a father-figure for Indira and it was very difficult for her to think of him as a prisoner. In our conversations later, JP fondly talked of Indira as “the child who used to play on my laps”. This predicament trickled down to all echelons of government both in the Centre and Chandigarh. Though the city had a sub-jail with reasonable facilities, we were under strict instructions from the PMO to have JP housed in the PGI under the care of a battery of ‘super-specialists’ for no apparent reasons. So we had to hurriedly do up a guesthouse on the PGI campus with all security trappings and notify it as a temporary sub-jail under the Criminal Procedure Code. JP was driven straight from the airport and lodged there. When later he was shifted to an unoccupied special ward, we had to notify that also as a sub-jail. Despite this predicament, the harsh and draconian rules and instructions from the Union Home Ministry regarding interviews with detainees and writing letters were applicable to JP. If these had been complied with, he would have been in solitary confinement, unable to meet anybody because JP had no nuclear family — wife, son or daughter — to call his own. So I resorted to circumventing the rules by using ‘discretionary powers’ to give humane treatment to JP by allowing regular interviews with his close friends and relatives. Prior to JP’s daring escape from Hazaribagh jail, AP Sinha, his co-prisoner, had exhorted him thus: “…you have got the passion that can make people’s spirits soar... you are a great leader”. I found this to be true. And having understood the intensity of JP’s commitment to democracy and freedom, I partook in all matters concerning him and the State, shared his intimate thoughts and feelings, discussed political events and happenings, played ‘Devil’s Advocate’, participated in brainstorming sessions, took charge of his mental and psychological well-being, and succeeded in reviving his faith in himself and his people which he was on the verge of losing. Certain unforgettable and unfathomable things that happened during JP’s detention are etched deep in my heart. One was the ‘death-drill’ of a person in normal health. It was initiated from Delhi within days of JP’s arrival in Chandigarh. To be known as ‘Operation Medicine’, it was a top-secret document of which only three copies were kept. Imminent amendment of the Representation of People’s Act granting immunity to PM’s election and several constitutional amendments became the proverbial ‘last straw on the camel’s back’ and something inside JP snapped. Having lost all hopes ‘for the revival of democracy’, on August 10, JP wrote to the Prime Minister conveying his decision ‘to go on fast until death’ unless the Emergency was revoked immediately. Considering the grave and disastrous implications this could bring forth, I pleaded with JP and succeeded in dissuading him after a two-hour highly surcharged verbal duel. MR Masani, distinguished parliamentarian and JP’s close associate, has recorded this episode in his book JP: Mission Partly Accomplished (Macmillan) with the observation: “...this certainly shows that JP treated him like a friend and that Devasahayam had by his behaviour towards his distinguished prisoner earned his confidence...” Probably it was telepathy. The need for reconciliation between Indira Gandhi and JP to end the Emergency and return India to normalcy was felt almost simultaneously by me and Prof PN Dhar, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. The first tangible result of my efforts came in the form of a letter from JP to Sheikh Abdullah on September 22 in response to a statement by Sheikh published in The Tribune, expressing himself in favour of ‘conciliation at all-India level’ and offering his services towards this. JP’s letter inter alia said: “I being the villain of the piece, the arch-conspirator, culprit number one, a return to true normalcy, not the false one established by repression and terror, can only be brought about with my cooperation. I am herewith offering you my full cooperation.” This letter brought immediate response from the PMO, already working on the idea of ‘reconciliation’. A special emissary (Sugatha Dasgupta, Director, Gandhi Institute of Studies, Varanasi, of which JP was the Chairman) arrived on 25th morning to prepare grounds for a political dialogue between the PM and JP. The process had commenced.As hope for the success of reconciliation efforts and restoration of democracy was rising, certain intriguing things happened, raising disturbing doubts in my mind. The delivery of JP’s letter to Sheikh Abdullah was blocked by the ‘Delhi Durbar’. Simultaneously, symptoms of some major ailment in JP surfaced on September 26, a day after the commencement of preliminary efforts towards reconciliation by the PMO.This happened again in early November just two days after the delivery of a sealed letter from Lord Fenner Brockway (eminent British Labour MP, member of the Cripps Mission and a friend of India) to JP. The content of the letter, written at the behest of the Prime Minister herself, was a virtual apology on behalf of Indira Gandhi for imposing the Emergency and seeking JP’s cooperation in restoring normalcy in the country. As JP was preparing to respond to this request positively, his health deteriorated. Mysteriously enough, Lord Brockway’s letter disappeared. Obviously, there was a deep-rooted conspiracy to sabotage reconciliation and a return to normalcy. Under the circumstances, I was convinced that JP should be taken out of Chandigarh and sent to a place where his ailment could be diagnosed correctly and treated properly. This conviction led me to initiate silent and swift steps through the official channel, PMO emissary Dasgupta and JP’s brother Rajeshwar Prasad (with help from Nayantara Sahgal, Indira’s cousin) with the same outcry — “If JP dies in jail” — to create a crisis situation in Delhi to force JP’s release.The pincer move worked admirably, resulting in a flurry of activities leading to JP’s release on November 12. The Chief Secretary and District Magistrate of Delhi flew down to serve the order on JP. After several hiccups, he left Chandigarh on November 16. JP reached Bombay’s Jaslok Hospital just in time for his badly damaged kidney to be treated and life saved. The rest is history.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/kaleidoscope/-prisoner-jp-in-chandigarh-40-years-ago/144389.html
Celebrating a legacy
MG Devasahayam
Oct. 11, 2015
October 11, 2015 is the 113th birth anniversary of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), one of India’s tallest leaders and the rightful claimant to the title ‘Saviour of India’s Democracy’. On this occasion, the BJP, which is fighting a ‘no-holds-barred’ electoral battle in Bihar, is claiming his legacy and is planning to celebrate the anniversary in a big way as Loktantra Bachao Diwas (Save Democracy Day). The purpose is not just to remember a great icon of Bihar, but more pertinently to underline how the erstwhile Janata Party constituents (JD and RJD) have frittered away his legacy by forming an alliance with the Congress.
The celebrations in Patna and the district headquarters will highlight “JP as the great democrat who fought against the authoritarian rule of the Congress and its worship of the Nehru-Gandhi family at the cost of the country.” As against this ‘song-and-dance’ this year, none of the BJP’s worthies were visible during last year’s JP birth commemoration.
I was in Patna on October 11 and 12, 2014, at the invitation of Mahila Charka Samiti, Kadam Kuan and Brajkishore Samarak Pratishthan (institutions created by Prabhavati Devi, JP and Dr. Rajendra Prasad) and had participated in JP’s birth anniversary programmes. I shared personal memories of my association with JP during his days in Chandigarh’s Emergency Jail. I also spoke on the subject: “Did India deserve JP?” As my tribute to his memory, I handed over to Brajkishore Samarak Pratishthan the complete set of papers and documents - official and personal - that related to the Emergency and JP’s imprisonment. Some of these are possibly of great historical significance.
I was told by the organizers that for the first time after the passing of JP, no one from the political spectrum of Bihar, including the BJP, had visited Kadam Kuan to pay homage on his birth anniversary. Hardly anyone from this clan participated in the function organised at the Brajkishore Samarak Pratishthan. Because of the absence of celebrities, the mainstream media completely ignored the event.
The BJP was hyperactive on JP’s birth anniversary in 2010 when Bihar was facing an Assembly election. There were several functions presided over by the then Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, former Governor of Chhattisgarh and Tripura, DN Sahay, and other dignitaries. Everyone commended JP’s ‘Total Revolution’, political philosophy and vision. He was hailed as a freedom-fighter, a true follower of socialism and protector of human rights. Now again many have resurfaced with renewed vigour on the eve of another election.
What exactly is the legacy of JP that the BJP is celebrating? Is it the ‘Congress mukth Bharat’ that JP achieved in 1977 against considerable odds, a feat that Prime Minister Narendra Modi replicated in 2014 with relative ease? The party ought to realise that JP had never ever sought any office of power or pelf. In fact he had turned down successive offers of Union Cabinet Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister and even President of India. No ordinary human being would do this.
Freedom, which is the essence of democracy, was an article faith for JP. When at the height of the Emergency Prime Minister Indira Gandhi proclaimed that ‘food is more important than freedom’, JP had thundered: “Freedom became one of the beacon lights of my life and it has remained so ever since. Freedom with the passing of years transcended the mere freedom of my country and embraced freedom of man everywhere and from every sort of trammel; above all it meant freedom of the human personality, freedom of the mind, freedom of the spirit. This freedom has become a passion of my life and I shall not see it compromised for bread, for security, for prosperity, for the glory of the state or for anything else”. It was in defence of this faith that JP fought the Congress and defeated the party at the polls.
During the Emergency, JP was detained as a prisoner in Chandigarh. Within the confines of the yet-to-be commissioned Intensive Care Ward of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, JP was an old, haggard and incoherent individual who felt that all hopes were gone and freedom in India stood extinguished. He had also mentally reconciled himself to die in confinement ‘as a prisoner of Indira Gandhi’. But the Almighty and the Ultimate Arbiter had other ideas. He wanted this man, who once symbolised all that was fiery in India’s freedom struggle and all that was noble in pursuing a cause, to re-surge, rise again and re-emerge as the nation’s hope and icon to lead the people back to freedom and democracy.
As the then District Magistrate of Chandigarh and custodian of “JP-in-Jail”, I had the great privilege of witnessing history-in-the-making and can claim to have played a key role in sustaining JP and saving his life. On his release, as he left Chandigarh on 16 November 1975 en route to Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital, I saw him off at the airport wishing him well and requesting him to look after his health. JP’s reply still rings in my ears: “Mr Devasahayam, my health is not important. The health of the nation and democracy is. I will defeat Indira Gandhi and have them restored”. This meant that within five months the fire was back in him and the ‘Hazaribagh Hero’ had transformed from a ‘defeated idol’ to a ‘defiant leader’ paving the way for India’s second freedom some months later.
Emboldened by the reports of ‘success’ of the Emergency regime, the general perception that opposition to her rule was crumbling and JP, the only mass all-India leader was sick and demoralised, Indira Gandhi called for election to Parliament in January 1977. And in his inimitable style JP swung into action despite being tied down to the dialysis machine twice a week. Without wasting time he put into effect the political blueprint he had worked out while in detention and finetuned later. Due largely to his untiring efforts, immediately after coming out of jail, the opposition leaders announced the coming-together of Congress (O), Jan Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal and Socialists under the Janata Party umbrella.
The Emergency and its excesses formed the major issue of the election campaign. JP created a public upsurge by touring the country and addressing mammoth gatherings. Dialysis was arranged in Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay to facilitate JP’s uninterrupted election campaign. A physically constrained JP could not travel extensively and many areas in the country, especially South India, were left out. Wherever he went, his message was simple and straight - “If you want autocracy, vote Congress. If you want democracy, vote Janata.” The rest is history.
Through his suffering and sacrifice, JP has left us the political legacies of freedom and democracy. On the economic front it is decentralized and distributed development with ‘small-is-beautiful’ as the motto. But governments run by those who claim JP’s legacy are compromising people’s freedom ‘for security, so-called prosperity and glory of the state.’ They are also pursuing predatory and centralized ‘development’ policies with ‘big-is-bountiful’ as the goal. Draconian laws are increasingly used against dissenters seeking justice, equity, protection of the environment and inclusive growth branding them as anti-national and anti-development. For them Digital India has become far more important than Democratic India.
The praxis of today’s political class runs counter to what JP stood for. The BJP, while celebrating his birth anniversary as ‘Save Democracy Day’, should reflect and introspect as to whether they are truly faithful to the precious legacy bequeathed by Jayaprakash Narayan.
http://www.thestatesman.com/news/opinion/-celebrating-a-legacy/96135.html