I heard arguments for and against the emergency, why it was necessary, why it was not necessary. Let us now take it for granted that it is a reality. Now we will have to find out why it came about. When you accept that it has come because of certain basic reasons, political, economic and social reasons, we have to accept that reality and try to make a creative use of the emergency. I would like to deal with that aspect along with other matters.
What was happening in the country? I heard with rapt attention the speech of my hon. friend, Shri Prasanabhai Mehta. He said that the whole thing was linked up with what happened in Gujarat. I would say, not only Gujarat; I would go even a little before that. What happened in the last few years in the country? I think, it is your and my responsibility, as representatives of the people and as advocates of democracy, to look back as to what was happening. Let me think aloud with you.
When we say that we accepted a new Constitution after Independence, when we say that there was a tryst with destiny, when we fondly quote our great leader Nehru, what were its implications? Its implications were not merely the transfer of British power to us. But it was a commitment to our own people for a socio-economic transformation. This is the tryst with destiny. For that matter, the Parliament was created. The sovereign Parliament is the expression of the will of the people. About some other democratic institutions in which all our members have faith, we have no less faith than what others claim to have in those democratic institutions. The political parties as such is another institution of democratic culture. The courts are in institution which is necessary for the functioning of democracy. It is all right. But are you to go by only the forms of democracy? Are you going to take shadow for substance? What is the substance of democracy? What is the basic objective for which we have accepted democracy as an instrument in India. It is the socio-economic transformation.
What have we been observing in the last few years? Kindly excuse me if my phrase is not so elegant. I think, it is a common man’s phrase if I may say so. At least, I have felt, functioning on the Treasury Benches, functioning as a citizen of India, functioning as an old freedom fighter that there was a game of obstacles going on, all around. This was all that was happening. These are many plus points in our internal situation. In the least 25 years, we certainly have created many important assets in our country, we have built up great talent in all fields, in the technical field, in the scientific field, in the agricultural field and so on. We have created new infra-structure, we have built a very big diversified industrial base in our country. We have developed some important institutions to which I made a reference. But having done all this ultimately; one was feeling that we were not exploiting or making use of all the potential strength and assets that we have built in our country.
What was building up was sense of frustration in the country. If we allow a sense of frustration to build up, I would say, that itself means an end of democracy in the country. This is a basic thing. If people feel that with all their strength and assets with all the democratic institutions they have got, they are not likely to make any progress towards socio-economic transformation, that is the end of democracy itself. Democracy means faith of people in themselves. The moment they feel that they cannot make any further progress through the institutions that they have created and to which they are committed, once they get that sort of feeling, that is the end of democracy.
