History of Press

In his lecture this time, Mr. Vikas Pathak tried to trace the continuities between pre and post independent media. He said that the freedom of press became one of the legacies of Freedom Struggle under Article 19(1) (a) of fundamental rights (Freedom of Press). This challenge of freedom of expression was taken by Motilal Nehru and C.R Das.

In 1931, there was a Karachi Congress session of INC. In this congress, Nehru drafted a resolution to be passed. The fundamental rights included in this resolution included the freedom of expression. On the other side, there was British position which was against this resolution. So, Simon Commission on the other hand said that there would be no bill of rights. After that, a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was formed that looked into Government of India Act 1935.

Mr. Pathak said that one crucial right among the fundamental rights is the freedom of expression. However, fundamental rights can also be amended by 2/3^rd of the majority in the parliament.

So, the fundamental rights are a legacy of freedom struggle. However, some restrictions are imposed on these rights and the court of law decides the case. Mr. Pathak gave example of the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi who was booked under a law for spreading disaffection (article 124 a). Mr. Pathak raised an interesting question over the freedom of expression in media. He asked that whether Indian media or press restricts the right to freedom of expression to feed certain corporate or political interests.

Coming to the Emergency phase in India from 1973 to 1977, Mr. Pathak talked about its effect on Indian media and press. He talked about the famous JP movement which began in Gujarat by Nav Nirman Samiti in 1974. The movement got its stronghold when allegations of corruption were put against Chimanbhai Patel, the then CM of Gujarat. At that time, the people wanted Mr. Patel to resign. At the same time, Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti (under ABVP) became active in Bihar. Jayaprakash Narayan, who was a freedom fighter, was asked to lead a massive campaign against the ruling party.

Speaking on the background of Jayaprakash Narayan, Mr. Pathak said that during the freedom struggle, JP played a crucial role in leading the underground freedom and became a social leader later. JP’s movement was much deeper than the recent Anna Hazare anti-corruption campaign and was carrying a historical legacy too. In June 1974, a historical rally called as Patna Gandhi Rally was organized in Delhi with the slogan of ‘Sampoorna Kranti’. The rally saw around 7.95 lakh people turning up and this was a huge response.

However, another destabilizing factor around this time was railway strike for the railway employees done by the trade unionist George Fernandes. A petition was filed against the then PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi which was an immediate factor to kick the Emergency. Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha upheld 2 charges against Mrs. Indira Gandhi. All this took place at such a time when the mood against Indira was swelling. At that time, Ramnath Goenka of Indian Express was very close to Jayaprakash Narayan.

A barrister named Siddhartha Shankar Ray was asked to draft an ordinance that an internal emergency is being proclaimed in the parliament. So, once this ordinance was signed by the then president Mr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, all the electricity lines were cut off in Delhi area to contain any news paper of agency from publishing the news of Emergency. Only one newspaper named Motherland brought up the news of Emergency being imposed. After this, Mrs. Indira Gandhi announced on All India Radio (AIR) that because of certain destabilizing forces in the country, an Emergency has been put up.

This sudden Emergency rule invoked a lot of protests in the country. Prominent leaders and journalists were arrested and put to jail who opposed this step. Student leaders from Delhi University were also arrested. However, the resolution was carried and emergency was clamped. In this way, the constitution was amended to aid Mrs. Gandhi.

After 19 months, Mrs. Indira Gandhi called for fresh elections. In between, Sanjay Gandhi became very powerful and carried a 5 point development program. Under such programs, sterilization programs were introduced to curb the high population growth problem in certain parts of the country. In some areas, forced sterilization programs lead to anti-sterilization movements such as in Muzaffarnagar where a huge mass of Muslim population was targeted. This news was censored by Mrs. Gandhi.

Talking about the effect of Emergency on the print media, Mr. Pathak said that the newspapers like The Hindu and Times of India became pro-emergency. But, Indian Express remained anti- emergency. At that time, V.C Shukla became the new Information and Broadcasting minister. So, in order to contain Indian Express form being anti- Emergency, he threatened Mr. Goenka. However, Indian Express came up with blank pages as a protest against the suppression of right to freedom of expression. The Emergency phase left a deep mark on Indian Press as many journalists were sent to jail and a number of newspapers came to an abrupt halt.