Political activists from the far Right to the extreme Left had joined hands to oppose the draconian measures of the Emergency between 1975 and 1977, which resulted in the fall of the Indira Gandhi government.
Now, a group of people from Kerala, who were jailed during those dark days, are intensifying their campaign demanding that the State government construct a memorial to mark their struggle; include chapters on the resistance movement against the Emergency in the school and college syllabi; and release pension and other benefits to them considering it as “second freedom struggle.”
P.C. Unnichekkan, State secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag, said here on Wednesday: “Many people were tortured at police camps across the State. Most of those structures have been demolished. The camp at Sasthamangalam in Thiruvananthapuram is the only one that remains. It should be developed as a memorial.”
He said that the present generation was unaware of the people’s movement that put an end to the 30-year uninterrupted rule of the Congress government. So, it was in the fitness of things to have it in the school and college syllabus. “States such as Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are giving pension to Emergency prisoners. Kerala should follow suit and announce similar benefits for the prisoners.”
Though the demand for justice for Emergency prisoners was raised in 2006 and a campaign was launched in 2010, it was yet to become successful.
Mr. Unnichekkan said that as per the Shah Commission report, there were around 7,000 political prisoners in the State. Now only 3,000 remain. “Four Ministers in the current cabinet – Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Ministers Thomas Isaac, T.P. Ramakrishnan, and G. Sudhakaran – were jailed during the Emergency. We hope they will address our concerns.”
He said that the forum of Emergency prisoners would take out a march to the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on June 26 in support of these demands.