IB had no role in imposing Emergency

The IB had no role in imposing the Emergency whatsoever and was not at all consulted. It was a surprise to the IB, Rajeswar told The Indian Express,adding that the IB may have recommended otherwise had it been consulted before the imposition of Emergency.

According to him,the IB used to send weekly reports to the Prime Minister and Home Minister on various aspects related to the Emergency every Friday,besides sending daily reports. At the end of six months after the imposition of Emergency,in January 1976,the IB recommended to call off the Emergency,release all prisoners,and go in for elections in March 1976. It would have been probably the best time to have acted accordingly. But most persons,including Indira Gandhi,were feeling so happy and contended with the Emergencys aftermath that they were not prepared to consider any such recommendation at that stage, Rajeswar said.

He said that the IB had reviewed the situation and recommended to the government again in June 1976 to announce elections for September/ October that year,after releasing all political prisoners on the anniversary of the Emergency.

The IB undertook a review and I prepared an exhaustive note after getting feedback from everyone of the states and union territories on the Emergency excesses,peoples reactions and possible steps to reverse the Emergency process… The IBs assessment recommended that the negative aspects of the Emergency such as indiscriminate enforcement of family planning measures,indiscriminate arrests… the opposition on the part of intelligentsia as well as the press,and the trend of economic deterioration necessitated a review of the Emergency. It was felt that the opposition was as yet in disarray and it would be a good step to take them by surprise by announcing elections in September/ October,1976, he quoted from his forthcoming memoir.

However,he said,the suggestion was opposed by some sycophants in the Congress,though some influential senior bureaucrats supported the IBs assessment. Indira Gandhi was inclined to go with the IBs view but in the end it was Sanjay Gandhi who had the decisive say and overruled it, he said.

According to Rajeswar,the IB made no further recommendations to the government on the issue and every body was taken aback when Indira announced polls for March 1977.

Rajeswar denied being part of any committee set up by the Home Ministry in 1977 to look into steps needed for holding polls in March 1977. The Indian Express had reported on July 8 that a panel including Rajeswar had twice recommended continuing with the Emergency,saying it was administratively desirable to do so. The report was based on confidential Home Ministry documents pertaining to the period accessed from the National Archives of India.