Today marks 50 years since the Emergency. But worry not – today’s newspapers and broadcast channels, with their responsible, independent-minded, and utterly value-based coverage, will surely remind you.
On June 25, 1975, democratic rights were suspended. PM Narendra Modi, then a young man, was being hunted. While Modiji, disguised as a sardar, braved Indira’s wrath, citizens had no voice. But, thank heavens, Modiji never gave up the fight. The media, of course, didn’t support him – famously, it “crawled when asked to bend”.
It felt like the freedom movement had been for nothing. How could the people of India allow such horror? No one noticed, no one cared – and most egregiously, they failed Modiji. All because the first casualty had been press freedom.
But rest assured, this will not happen again. Any future leader of Modiji’s calibre who resists injustice will not be abandoned. Not by us anyway.
Today marks fifty years since one of the darkest chapters in India’s democratic history, the imposition of the Emergency. The people of India mark this day as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas. On this day, the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution were set aside, fundamental rights…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2025
So when our Honourable Prime Minister tweeted today about how people “from all walks of life” worked to protect democracy during one of India’s darkest chapters, I nodded so vigorously in agreement that colleagues thought I was possessed like the head-twirling Exorcist girl. They almost called in a priest – until I reminded them that if I were possessed, it had better be a Hindu priest.
But I digress.
I cannot help but applaud Honourable Home Minister Amit Shah as he thundered from the stage at a Samvidhan Hatya Diwas event, held with appropriate gravitas at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Stadium. His statement – “Stay dene wali court ko bhi, akhbaron ko bhi chup kiya, Akashwani ko bhi chup kiya aur 1,10,000 saamaajik rajnaitik karyakrtaon ko jail ki kaal kothri main band kar diya…” – stirred my soul. And when Shahji said, “It is our duty to protect democracy”, I knew that we had to act.
That’s why I salute our brave, ever-vigilant media for a national service of the highest level. The English and Hindi news media, perhaps voluntarily (perhaps not), took up the noble cause of covering Samvidhan Hatya Diwas. A rare moment when they stood up (on their own, which is possible too I guess).
All day, NDTV and others have dutifully looped clips reminding us how Modiji went underground while the press went under the boot, only because it reported on an ideology that Indira Gandhi found politically inconvenient. The judiciary folded without a whimper. It was the darkest of times. But what pains me most is that there was no one – no media outlet – to stand up for brave Modiji, our Constitution, our civil liberties, and, most importantly, our citizenry, who were promised civil liberties and true independence and then given a pliable news media and despotic rule.
Luckily, today, that kind of absolute injustice cannot be repeated.
Because today, we have truly independent media, Samvidhan Hatya Diwas, and a government that ensures we never forget what dictatorship looks like, lest we mistake it for something else.
After all, we now have journalists who don’t crawl. They don’t bend. They don’t kneel. They don’t ask questions like, “Modiji, aap mein itni energy kahan se aati hai?” just because they get advertising from government coffers.
And for that, we must thank our wonderful PM and his cabinet who have ensured that independent news outlets can still prosper, even when they don’t take ads that show smiling CMs, cabinet ministers, and indeed the omnipresent PM himself.
So, if you – like us – respect and pay heed to the Honourable PM and HM’s words, and if you want to ensure that an injustice like the Emergency is never repeated, whether directly or indirectly, by official notification or by insidious means, overtly or covertly, by fear of jail or the lure of government advertising – then you know what you must do. If you want to make sure the media does not fail in holding inconvenient political leadership to account, as it failed the RSS and Jansangh in 1975, you know what you must do.
If you want to ensure that promising leaders like Modiji don’t have to go underground again, support independent media.
Check the link below and pay to keep news free. Because when the public pays, the public is served, and democracy is protected. And our beloved future PMs don’t have to go underground.
Click here and ensure the media never again becomes a mouthpiece for political power, government advertising, or friendly industrialists.
Click here to ensure the media does not bend, even when politely asked.
Pay to keep news free so that 50 years from now, no one is doing shows like the Indian broadcast news media is doing today of the horrible things that happened 50 years ago in 1975. Pay to keep news free so that 50 years from now, AI anchors aren’t solemnly recounting the horrors of 2025 but praising it as the golden age of press freedom and how wonderful the current dispensation was towards such freedoms as opposed to Indira Gandhi’s assault on the press.
Pay to keep news free so that future governments don’t need to throw taxpayer money at events like Samvidhan Hatya Diwas just to remind people they’re the good guys. That money could be better spent – on toilets, for instance. For the children still defecating in the streets.
If you agree with what Mr Modi and Mr Shah said today, if their warnings moved you the way they moved me – pay to keep news free.
Pay to keep news free, and help build the India of Modiji’s dreams. An India where no one ever has to say again: “The press failed us.”
Click here and ensure the media does not betray India ever again.
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