When a Bengaluru prison united Indira's foes

BENGALURU:Listening to songs on a transistor, holding discourses on India's Constitution and working on the blueprint for a political party that was to take birth post Emergency . This was how political stalwarts like L K Advani, Madhu Dandavate, H D Deve Gowda, Ramakrishna Hegde and others kept themselves engaged during their time in Bengaluru Central Jail.
The 21-month clampdown of the Emergency from June 1975 to January 1977 has been called Indian democracy's darkest period. And it had political ramifications in Karnataka too.
The city jail was handpicked to lodge top leaders of all opposition parties for the single reason that Karnataka was then under former PM Indira Gandhi's trusted Congress chief minister D Devaraj Urs.Later Urs fell out with Gandhi.
“I was sharing a cell with murderers. But things improved after leaders like Advani arrived, as kitchens got classified into A and B class,'' H S Doreswamy , oldest among the detainees, said.
But things were not pleasant for many like social activist and theatre personality Snehalata Reddy, arrested under MISA, on charges that she was helping George Fernandes, who had gone underground. A chronic asthma patient, her health deteriorated and she was let out on parole. Five days later, she died.
Recalling his jail stint, former minister P G R Sindhia said the state police was rendered defunct as all orders came from New Delhi. “Jail became a university for many of us as I studied the Constitution and read George Orwell's Animal Farm, but many of us got our spondylitis there.“
The long detention saw leaders of all political hues opposed to Congress (I) floating a new outfit, which set the stage for coalition politics in India.
While some actively participated in protests against Emergency and courted arrest, some literally forced police to arrest them to facilitate their political cause, says M C Nanaiah, former minister and JD(S) leader. “In Karnataka, common people or political leaders did not feel the excesses of the Emergency, thanks to then chief minister D Devaraj Urs. He did not harass leaders of other political parties as it happened in Congress-led states in the north,“ recalls Nanaiah. V J K Nair, state CPM chief, recalls CM Ibrahim playing Mrs Gandhi in a skit in jail. “It was a laugh riot. With RSS and Jamaat members too lodged in jail, there was dispute over non-vegfood. RSS leaders opened a separate vegetarian kitchen and would collect the rationed ghee to make sweets. The kitchens shared firewood too,“ says Nair.
Snehalata Reddy, late Kannada film actor and social activist, was one of first martyrs of the Emergency. Married to film director Pattabhirama Reddy, she is still remembered for her roles in `Samskara', which won her the national award in 1970 and `Sone Kansari', released in 1977 after her death. But she became famous after she resisted Indira Gandhi. A close friend of George Fernandes, Snehalata was arrested on May 2, 1976 on suspicion that she sheltered him. No case or trial was held.
“My family was involved with the underground movement led by Fernandes and CGK Reddy to overthrow Indira's dictatorship. We paid a heavy price for it. My mother lost her life and we lost a beautiful and courageous person, who fought for justice all her life,“ said Snehalata's daughter Nandana Reddy, a social activist.