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        B N Tandon has trenchantly observed in his introduction to PMO DIARY-II The Emergency: 'The emergency has been the most despicable misdeed in the post-independence period. To keep just one individual in power the entire Constitution and electoral laws upon which a democracy is placed were set at naught without any hesitation. No more heinous crime can be imagined in the context of democracy on which the country prides itself. In short, the Emergency made politics and political processes the hand-maid of a power hungry individual and engulfed the administration in human cruelty. Its terror reached uncivilised limits. THE DIARY contains relevant facts. Indira Gandhi was the main culprit in all this but others cannot be forgiven for supporting all this. In fact at the root of the tragedy lies the devaluation in our values and weakening of our moral-fibre.'

        A disgraceful Attorney General of Mrs Gandhi's government made an outlandish statement before the Supreme Court to the effect that during the Emergency a citizen loses his basic right to live. According to B N Tandon this was an insult to the wisdom of the Founding Fathers of the Indian Republic. This slavish mentality gained in strength during the Emergency with the result that unbridled oppression had a field day. Sanjay Gandhi was the de facto dictator and Indira Gandhi, the de jure dictator. It was a moment of private glory for both of them and monumental shame for the people of India as a whole.

        Indira Gandhi used the might of the State for engineering political defections. Here is an entry by B N Tandon in his diary on 20 August, 1975: 'Madhav Rao Scindia's leaving the Jan Sangh increases neither the government's prestige nor its trustworthiness. The residences of the Gwalior Royal Family have all been raided and searched. It is through threats that he has been forced to leave the Jan Sangh. Madhav Rao can be held out no carrots in the form of offers or wealth. So the stick of retaliatory action has been used. Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed!' It will be patently clear that Indira Gandhi was guilty of the worst form of political blackmail. She used institutions like the IB, CBI, Income Tax, Customs and Central Excise Departments as guided missiles against her political adversaries. Those whom she could not defeat either politically or democratically, she tried to demolish them through these State institutions with any compunction.

        The Communists have always been traitors. Their record of treason during the days of our freedom struggle has been fully documented for posterity by Arun Shourie. In 1975, a delegation of Communist women told the PM after declaration of emergency that there was no indication of any dictatorship in our country. Beginning from 1966, Indira Gandhi's political strategy quite like that of Goebbels in Nazi Germany was based on false propaganda and during Emergency she acquired complete control over all media. She brought in a new terrorist regime in which her government could send any citizen to jail at will without disclosing any reasons. It has been rightly said that dictatorship begins when the Rule of Law ends.

        On 29 August, 1975, there was a conference of Chief Secretaries. Indira Gandhi presided over the conference. She spoke hypocritically and said: 'Senior officers have a special duty to give advice in a fearless manner. Promotion should be based on competence, capability and integrity.' Almost every officer knew that the Prime Minister did not mean a word of what she said. No officer dared to display his fearlessness in the matter of advice or say anything frankly to the Prime Minister because every one knew that it would not be liked by her, and that he would only attract her raging fury for retaliatory action. To quote B N Tandon's words: 'But today they Palace Guards are merrily appointing incompetent and corrupt officers to high positions. All this talk of Prime Minister about Merit and Integrity is purely for purposes of record and publicity. Expediency is the corner stone of her political style.'

        Indira Gandhi was a very small minded woman and in many situations she behaved like a rattled mother-in-law. Shanti Bhushan, the senior advocate, was a standing counsel for ONGC. As a lawyer he had absolute freedom to choose his clients. Since he was appearing in a political case on behalf of Raj Narain, Indira Gandhi got annoyed and directed Malavya, the Petroleum Minister, to see that ONGC stopped giving legal work to him. After 1971, she devoted more time to such inconsequential trifles than to major national problems affecting the lives of millions in India.

        As regards Indira Gandhi's direct promotion of corruption in Congress-ruled States, B N Tandon has recorded in his diary on 30 January, 1976: 'When it comes to corruption, Bihar is easily the leader. Even the Congressmen themselves admit this. In the last six months or so, I have lost account of how many reports I have put up to the PM on Bihar. Last week, the IB sent a very extensive report to the PM, but no action has been taken at all in Bihar. Apart from this, the government is unhappy with the officers who have dared to criticise the Bihar government. Sometime back Rustumji (IB) was regarded as an excellent officer. Apart from Law and Order, there were great many issues on which the PM sought his advice. But ever since he criticised the Bihar administration, about six months ago, and gave a note on this to the PM, he has fallen from grace. About these officers, the PM has got a favourable description that 'Oh! Mr. so and so cannot understand the political realities and the political intricacies.' The PM looks on all matters purely from the point of view of political cost and benefit and desires that every officer should make the same calculation. Those who cannot do this, she declares, they are not OBJECTIVE.' I can say from my limited experience as a non-entity in the Indian Administrative Service for 29 years that every politician in India wants every government servant to function as an unofficial member of his/her political party displaying the same supreme dedication shown by a regular card holder to the supremo of the party. Those public servants who declare their allegiance to the Indian Constitution and the President of India are treated like known traitors. This is the tradition which the Congress party established during the days of Indira Gandhi and today it has reached its zenith in the UPA government. The clear message of all these politicians to all public servants has been: 'Be corrupt and comfortable. Never be honest and get harassed through the CBI at the Centre and the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Directorate in the States.'

        Anyone can see from even a cursory study of B N Tandon's Diary that Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi provided the protective umbrella of the government of India in the realm of corruption. It was Indira Gandhi who reduced action against corruption to the status of a political tool. Here B N Tandon gives the instance of Haryana under Bansi Lal. Corruption reached Himalayan heights there and more than 100 MPs and MLAs gave a petition to Indira Gandhi against Bansi Lal. A Group of Ministers was asked to conduct the enquiry. Even Mohan Kumaramangalam, who was a very capable Minister, found it necessary to recommend that a regular judicial enquiry should be conducted in regard to the allegations against Bansi Lal. Likewise, the allegations against Devraj Urs in Karnataka were not baseless either. In respect of these cases, the PM was not ready to take any action and consequently the relevant files remained with her for months in a state of coma. She always took particular care never to send back such files to the office which had initiated such files. However, she took action on a war-footing to appoint a Commission of Inquiry against the Akhali Dal Ministers in Punjab. This technology inaugurated by Indira Gandhi has been perfected by all the Dravidian parties in Tamilnadu without any exception.

        On 13 February, 1976, B N Tandon has recorded: 'When the file was received from the Finance Minister, his minute was on a pasted note sheet, clearly indicating that the original note was different. This is an example of corruption, even though Malavyaji has himself has not received any illegal gratification in doing all this. The PM's house has used its pressure so that the Maruti can be benefited. The government has suffered a loss because it could have bought these vehicles with cranes at a cheaper price from elsewhere.'

        Indira Gandhi wanted a committed and dependent judiciary taking orders from her and her son and his coterie. When the Chief Justice of India proposed the elevation of Rajendranath Agarwal, an Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court to the post of a Permanent Judge, Indira Gandhi made it clear that she would never accept that proposal. To quote B N Tandon in this context: 'This is the second such case in this month. Lalit's case (Bombay High Court) was the first. The PM is annoyed with Rajendranath Agarwal because in Kuldip Nair's case he not only gave a judgement against the government but also criticised the government.' On 29 March, 1976, B N Tandon's entry in his diary is this: 'The PM's lies are continuing to increase. She now does not hesitate to spout lie even in very small matters.'

        The biggest casualty of Indira Gandhi's assault on democracy has been the sharp fall in the moral standards of everyday life in our country. She had a deep and enduring relationship with corruption. Everyone knows that she so honoured and exalted corruption that it became an integral part of the texture of our national life. In short she made unabashed corruption an authentic badge of government-sponsored greatness in India.