• Source:JND
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JE News Desk: Marked as the darkest hour of Indian democracy, the 1975 Emergency which was imposed 48 years ago in the country led to the subversion of all democratic institutions of the country, censorship of media, and a crackdown on the opposition. It was imposed when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of the country.

During the time of Emergency, the fundamental rights of the citizens were abolished, the press was banned, and the centre-state relations were affected. Several prominent leaders including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lalu Yadav, Nitish Kumar, and Ram Vilas Paswan among others opposed the emergency.

However, after 21 months the emergency was lifted and Indira Gandhi lost power when general elections were held. Here are the top 10 leaders who raised their voices against the then Indira Gandhi government during the time of emergency and a look at their political career after the Emergency.

Here Are The Top 10 Leaders Of Emergency Era:

1- Jaiprakash Narayan: Jaiprakash Narayan (JP) is popularly known as Loknayak. He was imprisoned because he vehemently opposed Indira Gandhi's Emergency. He is also considered as the father of the JP movement.

JP had also given the slogan of total revolution to overthrow Indira Gandhi from power. He also played an important role in the formation of the Janata Party in 1977. He died on 8 October 1979 due to heart disease and diabetes.

2- LK Advani: He was also jailed for raising his voice during the Emergency. Advani is a founding member of the BJP. In June 1975, he played a significant role in bringing down Congress's impregnable fortress in Gujarat. Following this, the pair of Atal-Advani became famous all over the country. Currently, he is included in the Margdarshak Mandal of the BJP.

3- Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Vajpayee was also imprisoned for 18 months during the time of Emergency. He criticized Indira Gandhi’s decision to impose an Emergency through his poems.

When the Emergency was lifted in 1977, the Janata Party government came to power and Morarji Desai became the prime minister. Vajpayee served as the foreign minister in that government. He died on August 16 2018 due to a prolonged illness. He was also awarded ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 2015.

4- Lalu Yadav: Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav is among those leaders whose political career was helped by the Emergency. He was also arrested during the Emergency and remained in jail till 1977.

He later became MP in 1977 at the age of 29. From 1990 to 1997, he was the Chief Minister of Bihar. However, he was also sentenced to prison in the fodder scam case.

5- Nitish Kumar: Nitish Kumar who is currently the Chief Minister of Bihar was also arrested during the time of Emergency. Nitish was arrested on the night of 9-10 June 1976. Nitish founded the Samata Party in 1994 along with George Fernandes, which later merged with the Janata Dal (United) in 2003.

Reportedly, as many as 15 policed constable officers who arrested him received a reward of Rs 2,750. He first became Bihar CM in 2005 with the help of the BJP.

6- Mulayam Singh Yadav: The Samajwadi Party (SP) founder was also jailed during the time of Emergency. He also served as the defence minister of the country and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. When the Janata Party was formed after the Emergency, Mulayam was also a member of it.

He started participating in the movement in 1954, due to which he had to go to jail. He was first elected as an MLA in 1967 on a United Socialist Party ticket. He passed away on 10 October 2022.

7- Sharad Yadav: His political career also improved following the Emergency. Yadav was the first leader to be elected as a member of the Lok Sabha from the three states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. He was also elected as a Rajya Sabha member four times. Sharad passed away on 12 January 2023.

8- George Fernandes: He was one of the prominent leaders who opposed the Emergency. He kept on agitating against Indira Gandhi and used to roam around the country. However, he was arrested in June 1976 and put in jail. He was elected as MP nine times in his political career.

9- Ram Vilas Paswan: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Paswan was also imprisoned during the time of Emergency. He became MLA for the first time in 1969. He also made a world record in the 1977 Lokm Sabha elections by defeating his rival in the Hajipur seat by 4.25 lakh votes. For this, his name was also recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.

He served as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Minerals, Railways, Chemicals and Fertilizers and Consumer Affairs. He passed away on 8 October 2020.

10- Rajnarayan: Rajnarayan defeated former prime minister Indira Gandhi in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli. He defeated Indira by as many as 52,000 votes.

However, in the elections held in 1971, he was defeated by Indira Gandhi and later moved to the Allahabad Court accusing her of winning the election by wrong means. The High Court, considering Indira guilty, ousted her from the post and also cancelled her election. Rajnarayan later became a Union Minister. He died on 31 December 1986.