Recounting the horrors endured during their imprisonment, survivors of the Emergency described the brutal treatment they faced for advocating democracy.
"Many of us were forced to lie on slabs of ice and were beaten black and blue," recalled Murari Lal Balgotra.
#TimesNow’s @deepduttajourno speaks exclusively to survivors of the Emergency- who were jailed at that time.The Constitution was killed when Indira Gandhi imposed an emergency. We were dragged out of our homes overnight. I spent 19 months in jail. I didn’t know whether I… pic.twitter.com/7v9DMcW396
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 25, 2024
Criticising the Congress, another survivor noted that while terrorists like Ajmal Kasab were served biryani, they were treated far worse.
"For months, we were confined to small cells where we couldn't stand or lie down properly. We were even forced to urinate in the same space," said Ram Dev, another survivor.
One of the survivor, speaking to Times Now, recounted the tragic deaths of two journalists who lost their lives distributing cyclostyled copies of Lalkar during the Emergency, criticizing Indira Gandhi.
Lambasting Rahul Gandhi for blaming Modi and criticising his government for an undeclared emergency, another survivor said: "Stop this drama. Today, people have been freely abusing PM Modi, but during the Emergency, people were jailed for even the slightest criticism of Indira Gandhi."
They remembered the despair and hopelessness they felt, fearing they might never return home alive.