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As the world celebrates the 11th International Yoga Day, the importance of yoga is now increasingly accepted and acknowledged by the people across the globe. The growing popularity of yoga can be understood from its becoming a mass movement in many parts of the world. The challenges which modern society poses to humanity, yoga provides solutions in the form of spiritual, moral, mental and physical progress along with preventive care and the overall well-being of any individual. It is an ancient gift of India to the world for the welfare of humanity. It was really heartening to see that on the appeal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, 177 nations, the highest so far, co-sponsored the resolution in the UNO to declare 21st June as International Yoga Day every year. A resolution which was co-sponsored by 177 nations was supported by 193 nations, which was unanimous and a record. While the entire world has been celebrating International Yoga Day with immense enthusiasm and zeal, some people in India are still not comfortable with this huge national achievement solely for political reasons. While such political mindsets are continuously finding themselves marginalised politically, the attempts to popularise yoga are bearing fruit as people are including it in their daily routine.
The nation has observed the 50th anniversary of Emergency as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’. The name, ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’, appropriately describes the dark pages of the post-independence history of India when democracy was murdered and dictatorship was sought to be imposed on the nation. The fundamental rights were suspended, opposition leaders were incarcerated, censorship was imposed on media, the judiciary was coerced into silence, the constitution was trampled upon and the parliament was put under siege. It was a well-known fact that the emergency was imposed to bail out the then Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi, whose election was declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court while barring her from contesting any election for the next six years. As no relief was granted from the Supreme Court, Indira Gandhi responded by imposing emergency on the country.
During those dark days, the country turned into a large prison as senior opposition leaders, including Jai Prakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, George Fernandes, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Morarji Desai, Nanaji Deshmukh, Madhu Dandavate and Arun Jaitley were incarcerated. According to one estimate, more than 3 lakh people were arrested across the nation, and more than 30,000 people were jailed under draconian MISA. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was banned. As the heroic struggle for the restoration of democracy spread across the nation, people opposing the emergency had to pay a heavy price, and many even lost their lives while resisting the brutal suppression of democracy in the country. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi went underground to mobilise support against the emergency. It was the result of united and heroic struggle by the democratic voices in the country that democracy was restored and Congress under the leadership of Indira Gandhi was defeated in the elections.
While the democracy was restored as a result of the unyielding and uncompromising fight by all the democratic voices of the country, the nation is still facing the challenges of an anti-democratic and dictatorial mindset in public life. It is highly unfortunate to note that many political parties have become highly undemocratic in their functioning and become fiefdoms of certain dynasts, families and groups of self-seekers. They want to capture political power to impose their dictatorship on the country again. ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ reminds the nation of such attempts in the past and educates the coming generation about the struggles and sacrifices required to keep democracy alive in the country. Let the nation be prepared to guard democracy, its lofty values and ideals and defeat any tendency towards dictatorship in the future.