Vikram Ditya Sharma/Ferozepur
More than five decades have passed since Emergency was imposed in the country, but for Ashok Puri (72) a resident of cantonment area, the memories remain as vivid and painful as ever.
As the nation observes the anniversary of the Emergency today, Puri recalls how, as a 22 years old youth, he chose to raise his voice against what he describes as an attack on democratic freedoms. Associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since 1963, he actively participated in protests against the emergency and became part of a satyagraha held in Ferozepur on December 16, 1975.
Puri remembers that after the protest, he and his fellow RSS activists were detained by the police and were taken to the city police station. “We were kept in jail for three days and physically tortured also before being produced before the authorities and sent to the Central Jail in Ferozepur. Even today, when I think about those days, the memories send shivers down my spine,” he says.
Months before his arrest, Puri had been involved in distributing and pasting posters in the streets and markets of the cantonment opposing the emergency. As surveillance intensified, he went underground and spent nearly four months in Muktsar to avoid arrest. Eventually, he returned and voluntarily courted arrest during the satyagraha.
Life inside the jail was equally challenging. Puri recalls that nearly 400 volunteers from districts including Moga, Ludhiana, Faridkot, Fazilka and Jalandhar were imprisoned for opposing the Emergency. Although authorities tried to prevent them from gathering, the detainees continued to motivate one another, sing patriotic and organisational songs, and discuss ways to keep their movement alive.
The struggle also affected his personal life. Having secured a temporary job with the State Bank of India in 1973, Puri lost the opportunity because of his involvement during the Emergency. However, he rebuilt his career, cleared the required examinations and joined the bank permanently in 1979 before retiring in 2013.
“Emergency was not merely a political episode but a defining test of India’s democratic spirit. The sacrifices and hardships endured by countless individuals during that period should continue to remind future generations of the value of freedom, the importance of dissent and the need to safeguard democracy at all times”, said Puri.
