Remark on Emergency, Satanic Verses: Why Chidambaram is likely to escape reprimand from Congress

New Delhi: Why is the senior Congress leader P Chidambaram not likely to be reprimanded by the party high command for his remarks on the imposition of Emergency in 1975 and the ban on Salman Rushdie’s controversial book The Satanic Verses in 1988? If the Congress leaders are to be believed, the party is neither worried nor embarrassed by the former finance minister’s statement made on 28 November at the Times LitFest in Delhi.

Instead, it seems that the Congress wants to give a message, albeit indirectly, to urban India that it doesn’t encourage restrictions, regulations, ban, intolerance or orthodoxy.

Congress chief spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala said, “Mr Chidambaram expressed an opinion as a citizen of a democratic country and didn’t use the Congress platform to do it. His statement in no way caused any embarrassment to Congress. Whatever, he said was based on circumstances and factual conditions prevailing at that time.”

“Now let’s be factual,” added Surjewala. “The book wasn’t banned by the government. It was the import of the book that was banned and that too after the then consulting editor of Penguin India– the publisher of the book, Khushwant Singh advised that the book shouldn’t be published or imported in India, given the existing situation in the country and abroad. The publisher also shared the same view.”

Chidambaram was the Minister of State, Home Affairs, when the ban was imposed in October 1988.

Another Congress leader, who didn’t want to be named, remarked, “Chidambaram is a very senior leader, who held important portfolios during UPA-I and II governments. His comments can’t be taken in a lighter vein or as a dissent note. Even former PM Indira Gandhi had expressed a similar view post-Emergency, despite the fact that it was only she, who had imposed it. Chidambaram expressed a similar view. One thing I can say that our vice president Rahul Gandhi is rejuvenating the party with liberal, progressive thoughts that could connect the youth of India. And, every member in the Congress party subscribes to this view.”

Mincing no words, Chidambaram had said, “I have no hesitation in saying that the ban on Salman Rushdie’s book was wrong…Indira Gandhi herself admitted in 1980 that the Emergency was wrong and, if elected to power, she would never impose the Emergency. People believed her and elected her to power again.”

Is Congress party trying to communicate a new narrative of a liberal and democratic India under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi?

Prof MD Nalpat, director, Geopolitics & International Relations, UNESCO Peace Chair, Manipal University, observed, “It’s a clever move by the Congress by trying to associate itself with the young India. Our country is changing. The mood of India, whose 70% population is below 35 years, is liberal. They are born after the Emergency era and do not want regulations and unwarranted government control.

“The latest Bihar election made the Congress understand about the importance of youth and its aspirations. It’s this urban India that voted the BJP to power in 2014, but due to growing intolerance, conservatism and moral policing, the popularity of Modi government has gradually been waning. The Congress and Rahul Gandhi seem to have taken a lesson out of it, and are trying to win over the Indian youth.”

However, the BJP sees Chidambaram’s statement as a “confused one”.

“Surprisingly, after 40 years, Chidambaram has realised that the Emergency was wrong. While, on one side our PM Narendra Modi has been ranked amongst the top 10 leaders of the world, Rahul Gandhi is attacking him by parroting those old lines of ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’. What better leadership can be expected from Gandhi or other Congress leaders like Chidambaram?” questioned Delhi BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay.