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        Smt. Indira Gandhi violated the spirit of the Indian Constitution with impunity by imposing a National Emergency on the midnight of 25 June, 1975, on the ground that a threat was posed to the internal security of the country. The real cause was the threat to her position as Prime Minister following the Allahabad High Court judgement when on 25 June, 1975, the Supreme Court, while admitting her appeal in the election petition against the Allahabad High Court judgement, granted a partial stay. Indira Gandhi's propensity to act like a Hitler or Stalin was exhibited by her in 1973 itself when she superceded three senior judges of the Supreme Court, particularly Justice Hegde, Justice Khanna and Justice Shelat and appointed Justice A N Ray as the Chief Justice of India. There was a countrywide protest against his appointment. At a public meeting held at Sunderbhai Hall, Mumbai in 1973, Justice M C Chagla spoke strongly against the blatant political interference of Indira Gandhi in the functioning of the judiciary at the highest level. This meeting was also addressed by former Chief Justice Shah and Palkhiwallah, both of whom fully endorsed the principled stand taken by Justice M C Chagla on this vital national issue.

        The real test came when the Emergency was declared in 1975 and in the fight against Emergency, the contribution made by Justice M C Chagla is indeed unforgettable till today. Arun Sathe, a noted BJP lawyer and one of the top leaders of the BJP has paid this tribute to M C Chagla: 'M C Chagla was really a gem of a person. For a right cause, he never hesitated in participating and in taking upon himself certain responsibilities. When I recall the selfless public services of Chagla, I consider myself blessed by God that I had the privilege of being associated with him. I remember that immediately on imposition of Emergency in June 1975, I went to his residence. Many eminent lawyers including Ram Jethmalani were present there.

When I requested Chagla to appear in the Bangalore High Court in a habeas corpus petition of Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani, he readily agreed and went to Bangalore. The rest is history. 'The history of the Emergency cannot be completed without extolling the services rendered by the late Justice M C Chagla, late Justice J C Shah and the late N A Palkhiwala. In the 32nd anniversary year of the Emergency, I salute these three legendary figures who worked and fought for civil liberty, individual freedom and political democracy in India.        In 1980, just one day prior to the first All India session of the BJP, an All India Lawyers' Conference was held in Mumbai under the Presidentship of Ram Jethmalani who was then the vice-president of BJP. The said conference was addressed by Justice Chagla, Justice J C Shah, Justice Soli Sorabji, lawyer Shanti Bhushan and many others. When Arun Sathe requested Justice Chagla to attend the BJP session next, he readily agreed and his historic speech at that session is now a part of the history of BJP.Justice M C Chagla addressed the delegates to the first plenary session of the Bharatiya Janata Party at Samata Nagar, Bandra Reclamation, Bombay, on 29 December, 1980. Here are a few brilliant excerpts from Justice Chagla's great speech on that occasion: 'I am not a member of the party and I am not addressing you as a delegate.

M C CHAGLA UNION MINISTER FOR EDUCATION

                 Still I assure you that when I am talking to you I do not feel like an outsider. I honestly and sincerely feel that I am one of you. This is because all of you have come here for a cause that is as dear to me as it is to you. This huge gathering that I see before me is Bombay's answer to Indira Gandhi. This gathering tells her plainly that those gathered here are opposed to her authoritarian methods and her intention of becoming a dictator. These people are here to fight for the cause of democracy. They are here to tell her that the country is in a terrible state, that there is chaos, mismanagement and corruption everywhere. We are not being ruled by the rule of law but by a group of opportunists, hypocrites and sycophants.

                Under these, circumstances the party you represent has a big role to play. This big procession and the admiration showered on Shri Vajpayee are due to the fact that he is one of the finest men in India today. I can say from personal experience that Shri Vajpayee was one of the finest Foreign Ministers India has had. He raised the image of this country in the eyes of the world and made our neighbours feel that we were true to our spiritual culture and did not want to play the big brother. I was told by someone high up that when Vajpayeeji first went to Pakistan the people there were surprised and wondered how a Jana Sanghi could come to Pakistan and expect to bring about friendly relations between the two countries. Yet when they met him and he talked to them with his quiet diplomacy he won them over and they all felt that Vajpayee was the finest ambassador India could have sent to their country.'

        At the same meeting in Bombay, Chagla also said that he had always admired the Jana Sangh Party because of its discipline and its honesty. He decried that the term 'politician' had become a byword for dishonesty and corruption. The former Jan Sangh was considered mainly as an urban party, a middle class party focused only on domestic problems. He expressed his happiness over the fact that the BJP was becoming gradually an All India phenomenon. Justice Chagla boldly declared: 'The Bharatiya Janata Party is not a communal party. It is truly a national party in the real sense of the term. It is interested in the various problems, difficulties and sufferings of the people of the country as a whole, and not of any particular part of India. Indira Gandhi keeps repeating in the newspapers and on the radio every other day that this party is dominated by RSS, that it is communal, and that every communal riot that takes place is caused by the RSS, or some other imaginary element. This is a charge that I would like to refute as being totally baseless and unwarranted. As regards other parties, the Communists may have a following, but they are not nationalist parties. They look to Moscow or Peking to get their orders, so their credentials for consideration as replacements for Indira Gandhi are immediately ruled out. Therefore, BJP is the only party left.'

        What is amazing is that Justice Chagla showed tremendous foresight in observing as early as 1980 that only the BJP was capable of serving as an alternative to the Congress Party. He was proved right in 1999 when Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of India.

        Justice Chagla expressed the view that the Congress government had often followed the old British policy of communalism. In his view, if it was communalism to pass over and ignore a man with merit simply because he happened to be a Muslim or a Christian or a Parsi, it was also communalism to appoint a person merely because he happened to be a Muslim or a member of some other minority community. In his view, it was injurious to the interests of the minorities themselves to have posts and offices filled by men who had no merit, merely because they wanted representation in high offices. Justice Chagla concluded: 'The minorities have come to expect that they will get certain posts whether their men deserve to get them or not. It is much better that they learnt to work hard and deserve the post. When I'm told that there is no minority representation in any particular post, I often ask the question; Is there any deserving person who has been passed over? If so, it is injustice, and we must fight against it. But if there is no deserving person, then to clamour for a post is really to be COMMUNAL.'

        Finally he was a great champion of the Uniform Civil Code for Muslims. The need of the hour is to de-politicise all the Muslim issues, which are detrimental to national integration. For this, an aggressive but meaningful campaign as part of a larger project aiming at creating a critical class within the Muslim society is to be evolved by the Muslim intellectuals by a scientific and modern interpretation of Islamic scriptures. Let the Muslim Personal Law be the starting point.

        Justice Chagla loved life. He was alive to the best in life. Solid character was the bedrock of his greatness. He sought excellence in every field of his endeavour. Gentleness was the most important aspect of his greatness. I can sum up his message to all of us in these words: 'It is great to have a free mind. Break down the walls of prejudice, fear and limitations. Have the courage to think your own thoughts, speak your own mind and live your own life. Keep yourself open to the power of the infinite. As a huge dam converts the power of a mighty river to create electricity and put it to work, so you can convert the golden river of God's goodness into spiritual electricity to help light the world.