Sanjay Gandhi (File Photo)
The May sun was burning hot. Even of power. The constitution was on the shelf. His talker in prison. These Emergency Those were the dark days. For the first time after independence, the country was under “extra-constitutional power”. this power Sanjay Gandhi It was He chose Amethi for his further journey to power. On May 1, 1976, Sanjay Gandhi came to Amethi for the first time. All the leaders including Chief Minister ND Tiwari were with him.
Firoz and Indira were MPs from Rae Bareilly seat
Why Amethi? His father Feroze Gandhi was elected from the adjacent Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in 1952 and 1957. He was Feroze Gandhi who was the voice of the opposition in the House when he was the MP of the ruling party. Strong advocate of freedom of expression. Since 1967, the representation of this region was in the hands of Mother Indira ji. The Allahabad High Court declared his 1971 election from Rae Bareilly invalid. To save his power, he imposed Emergency in the country on 25 June 1975. All civil rights suspended. Political opponents are in jail and the mouth of the public is locked.
Five Sutras of Sanjay: Leave it now jawans
Sanjay Gandhi had a five-point program. Family planning, shramdaan, tree plantation, adult education and dowry abolition. The instruments of power across the country were putting it on the ground and on paper in their own ways. Sanjay Gandhi himself was present in Amethi’s laboratory. There, from May 1, 1976, a month-long Shramdaan camp of the Youth Congress was organized. Hundreds of youths from different provinces of the country arrived. Ranvir Rananjay Degree College was his shelter. Entire government staff in service. Shovels and spades were used to make the unpaved roads for Kherona, Virahinpur and Malik Mohammad Jayasi’s mausoleum. Along with the Indira-Sanjay slogans, there was another din:
Fight with pride, soldiers, leave it now, soldiers.
Five formulas are the great mantra, some work has to be done, soldiers.
9 people had gone to Rankadih to protest against family planning
The campaign of family planning also landed loudly here. During the Emergency itself, the land of Rankedih, at a distance of about twenty kilometers from Amethi, turned red with the blood of those who opposed sterilization. There was a ban on news then. There was a ban on going there after the police firing. That’s why there was a lot of rumors about the death toll. Later, in the investigation of the Corporation Commission under the rule of the Janata Party, nine deaths were confirmed due to police firing.
Emergency gave the title of villain
Sanjay Gandhi had a short phase. Emergency added a permanent form of villain to him. Amethi-Sultanpur is the witness of his energy. Fold your hands in front and bow your head. Even in winters, Sanjay, who was seen only in kurta-pajama and a shawl on his shoulder, was always seen in a hurry. Addresses of few sentences in meetings. Work only work. The same is expected from the officers and the same from the workers. Saw barricading in a meeting. Expressed displeasure
Till reaching the next meeting, the police-administration would have uprooted the bamboo and disappeared from the eyes. Minister Veer Bahadur Singh, who was traveling as an assistant in the car, lost his way. The question happened with the map. In response to no, the eyes bowed down and were left to their own condition in the deserted middle of Ulra-Shahgarh. Chief Minister ND Tiwari. He and all the ministers were made to run back and forth. Amethi is witness to interesting sights, not sparing any effort to please.
Amethi’s shramdan camp made many leaders
Amethi’s labor donation camp was just an excuse but it connected the Gandhi family with Amethi. This camp raised a team of local-outside youth. He was with Sanjay Gandhi from the streets to the courts in the fight between 1977-80. All the leaders associated with him further established themselves in politics. Mahesh Joshi (Madhya Pradesh) was in charge of the camp. Became a minister. Shiv Pratap Mishra “Baba” was in his cooperation. Reached Rajya Sabha. Ambika Soni, who later joined the central cabinet, was then the national president of the Youth Congress.
Rajendra Singh Solanki was the State President of Youth Congress. Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath, Gundu Rao, Akbar Ahmed Dumpy, Janardan Reddy, Sanjay Singh, Ram Singh, Ashok Pandey, Jagdambika Pal, Nirmal Khatri, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Gufran Azam, FM Khan , Jagdish Tytler, Arun Kumar Singh Munna, Satish Ajmani, Jai Narayan Tiwari, Bhola Pandey, Devendra Pandey, Ram Dulare Yadav and many other names associated with the camp and Amethi of that era became popular in politics.
Sanjay was shocked by Amethi’s Umthi mustache in 1977
In March 1977, a confident Sanjay Gandhi was in the fray for Amethi. In the past 19 months, those who ruled the country without any authority, were now at its door for the stamp of the people. Supporters from all parts of the country had reached Amethi to ensure the victory of their leader. Bahubali was armed with weapons. The guarantor of victory was the administration. In the competition, after suffering the tortures of Emergency, the self-taught self came out. Ravindra Pratap Singh was there. In 1967, he had been the MLA of Amethi’s Jansangh.
In that period, a big heart was needed to compete with Sanjay Gandhi. He was with them. He was the candidate of the Janata Party. The party was in name. In fact, only the public was fighting this election. The public was vocal against Sanjay Gandhi’s big name, immense resources and shared power of governance. There were scenes of this from the propaganda of the village to the gatherings. Self in Gauriganj. In order to fail Jagjivan Ram’s meeting, a meeting of film wrestler Dara Singh was organized nearby by the Congress.
Enraged by the noise of protest, Dara Singh angrily snatched away the baton of a soldier standing nearby. But Rustme Hind Dara Singh was weak in front of the anger of the crowd. He also had to spend a few hours in the police station. To garner sympathy, a drama of firing on Sanjay Gandhi’s car was staged between Gauriganj-Bani. For the first time on the day of polling, Amethi became aware of organized booth looting.
This was repeated again and again in Amethi in the next several elections. The preparation was till the counting of votes. But when the public is in front, then all tricks are useless. Sanjay Gandhi’s votes were 1,00,503 votes as against 1,76,359 of Ravindra Pratap Singh. In the middle of the vote counting, Sanjay Gandhi came out disappointed with the Sultanpur collectorate. During the nineteen months of Emergency, the officers under his command had turned their backs.
In this period, people who were scared of fear had regained the courage to shout slogans and hooting against them. Ravindra Pratap Singh had become a hero. From home to Delhi. People wanted to see and touch the person who had defeated Sanjay Gandhi. Maneka Gandhi’s magazine “Surya” was also included in her interview. The interesting title of this interview, which was printed in several pages along with several photographs of Ravindra Pratap Singh, was “Amethi ki Umethi moochen.”
Struggle on the streets for two and a half years and then entering the Parliament from Amethi
During the two-and-a-half years of Janata Party rule, there was tremendous participation of the youth of Amethi-Sultanpur in Sanjay Gandhi’s fight from the road to the courts. If he was the mastermind behind the downfall of the Congress in 1977, then he was the architect of its comeback in 1980. He was again in the fray in Amethi. Matured by the lessons of defeat and the experiences of struggles away from power. Better communication with the public. He was beginning to understand the difference between sycophants and workers.
This time he got 1,86,990 and Ravindra Pratap Singh got only 58,445 votes. Ram Murthy Shukla, who came to politics from journalism, was his election agent in 1980. Very special and close. After the election, Kamal Nath reached there while preparing the details of expenses to be filed in the election office at 12 Willingdon Crescent. Sanjay Gandhi was telling them, “Get the workers to work according to their hard work and ability. Now there should not be any kind of hubbub.
But the time left was less…..!
After the return of the governments in Lucknow-Delhi, he started drawing the blueprint for the development of Amethi. According to his mood, he wanted quick results. Maybe because he had less time. He died in a plane crash on 23 June 1980. Amethi his elder Rajiv Gandhi. Then kept sending Sonia Gandhi and later Rahul Gandhi to the Parliament. 45 years ago, Sanjay Gandhi from Amethi had established family ties with Amethi. By 2019, the tide of sentiments was on the decline and relations had weakened. Amethi rejected Rahul Gandhi. 2024 is near. Will any member of Gandhi family again enter the battlefield of Amethi? Right now it’s just speculation!
Also read: PM Modi’s stern warning to Pakistan on terrorism from US soil
