In The Name Of Democracy: JP Movement and the Emergency

by Bipan Chandra

An unusual and insightful perspective of Indian democracy's dark hour
'When Jayaprakash Narayan, the leader of the JP movement in north India, pressed for the resignation of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it prompted her to impose internal Emergency. In this fascinating account, Bipan Chandra traces the events that led up to this moment and makes some startling revelations. He finds that there was a real danger of the JP movement turning fascist, given the fuzzy ideology of Total Revolution, its confused leadership and dependence on the RSS for its organization. At the same time, despite the authoritarianism inherent in the Emergency, particularly with the rising power of Sanjay Gandhi and his Youth Congress brigade, Indira Gandhi did end it and call for elections.
Finely argued, incisive and original, this book offers significant insight into those turbulent years and joins the ever-relevant debate on the acceptable limits of popular protest in a democracy .

Genres: History, India, Politics, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Bipan Chandra (born 1928) is an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. He has specialized on the national movement. He is considered an authority on Modern Indian History and is one of its most popular scholars.

Source for information : Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipan_Ch... ) and for the Author's photograph : Penguin ( http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/en/c... )

Reviews

[Aditi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Slightly academic but quite an objective analysis of the period.
Given that the author has lived through the period, it is expected that there will be personal biases. Filter out those and we're good.
Also, it comes eerily close to the situation we are facing as of now.

[Ketan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a very authentic book on the emergency period. But if you read it keeping in mind the author's political inclinations then it can become quite informative.

[Aavani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A liberal outlook, but definitely one that has solid reasoning and explanations. It tries to paint the picture of both sides, and creates an analysis considering “the worst has happened, but let’s see what we learned from it”. Don’t know yet how much it should affect my views about the period.

[Samuel Rajkumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the first time, a well balanced book about the JP Movement and the Emergency that it provoked. All the other accounts I have read deify or demonize one or the other. Bipan Chandra analyzes the causes for the movement, it's principal actors, and its nature. The author presents, very convincingly, that JP himself was not very clear about the goals (and even methods) of the movement. Having a limited presence outside Bihar, JP relied on a motley band of organizations for support and organization. Of them - the Congress (O), the Sarvodayaites, the RSS, Naxalites and Anand Margis - there was a real danger of the movement turning fascist with there being a real risk of the RSS hijacking the movement.

As for the Emergency, while not defending it, the author emphasizes that while it was bad, it not not as bad as other Authoritarian and Totalitarian regimes, contemporary or past. He postulates that Indira Gandhi called off the Emergency, when she realized that too much power was accumulated in the hands of Sanjay Gandhi, her son, and that the Emergency itself was in danger of spinning out of control into an Authoritarian, Totalitarian and potentially a Fascist regime.

All in all an excellent book for those interested in the Emergency and its causes.

[Rajesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed narration but biased

[Shailja Agarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

JP Narayan led the first notable political revolution in the post independence India and this books takes you through the journey of this revolution. Indira Gandhi's total seizure of control and then the total loss of it. Then the book highlights the very fragmented political opposition to congress which eventually could not stand against Congress or Indira Gandhi.