Today is 25th
June . .. .. and my memory immediately took me back to the iconic image of Kapil Dev standing at the Lord’s balcony
holding aloft the World Cup.
There obviously is more in
the history about this day ! – about 45 years ago, India suffered dark age with
Govt making blatant and extensive use of its power of preventive detention.
People were arrested and detained only on the apprehension that they may commit
an offence. According to Shah
Commission, nearly 1,11,000 people were arrested under detention laws. There were many reported incidents of torture
and custodial deaths occurring ! and that of another clan who did not
hold any official position at that time but exercising enormous control over
the administration and interfering in
the functioning of the government.
On 25.6.1983, Indians were
underdogs – they had never been in Finals.
Their opponents were mighty West Indies who had rock solid batting and
fearsome quartet of pace bowlers. India
had a worst start – Gavaskar struggling and getting out. Krishnamachari Srikkanth entertained us –
hooking, going down on his knees for a square cut but the team ended up at just
183. That day Doordarshan provided live
coverage with a couple of ‘breakdowns’ – towards the end, commentary went-off
and they quickly added radio commentary to the visuals.
It was Sri Azhagiya Singar
Aani Brahmothsavam ~ those were the days, when people would at street corners
stand in group listening to radio commentary.
Gordon Greenidge left to a big banana inswinger of Balwinder Sandhu –
trying to leave the ball, but the ball kept coming in and clipping his stumps.
Viv Richards strode in and took on the bowlers – Madanlal was the workhorse and
every Indian supporter would remember that frozen moment. Richards getting into the line and flicking
Madanlal over midwicket – Kapil Dev kept running back and took the catch with
effortless ease – an exemplary effort – great anticipation, finest athleticism
and classy fielding. It was really a combined effort as India defended the low
target to emerge victorious. Most of us
thought Srikkanth’s pick and throw caught Bacchus short of the crease but those
of days when TV replays would not be conclusive.
On this day in 1991
Martina Navratilova won her record 100th
singles match at Wimbledon, beating Elna Reinach of South Africa 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
in the 1st round. In 1903, Eric Arthur
Blair known by his pen name George
Orwell, was born. As a writer, Orwell
produced literary criticism and poetry, fiction and polemical journalism; and
is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian
novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
RMS Lancastria was a
British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World
War. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Ariel. Having received an
emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops in excess of its capacity
of 1,300 passengers, modern estimates range between 3,000 and 5,800
fatalities—the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history. Operation Aerial was the evacuation of Allied
forces and civilians from ports in western France from 15
to 25 June 1940 during the Second World War. The evacuation followed the
military collapse in the Battle of France against Nazi Germany, after Operation
Dynamo, the evacuation from Dunkirk and Operation Cycle, an embarkation from Le
Havre, which finished on 13 June.
The Luftwaffe attacked the
evacuation ships and, on 17 June, evaded RAF fighter patrols and sank the
Cunard liner and troopship HMT Lancastria in the Loire estuary. The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the Wehrmacht
during World War II. The ship sank quickly and vessels in the area
were still under attack during rescue operations, which saved about 2,477
passengers and crew. The loss of at least 3,500
people made the disaster the greatest loss of life in a British ship, which the
British government tried to keep secret on the orders of Winston Churchill, the
British Prime Minister. The official evacuation ended on 25 June, in
conformity with the terms of the Armistice of 22 June 1940 agreed by the French
and German authorities.
Inheritance of power and
wealth in the Mughal empire was not determined through primogeniture, but by
princely sons competing to achieve military successes and consolidating their
power at court. This often led to rebellions and wars of succession. As a
result, a complex political climate surrounded the Mughal court in Khurram's
formative years. In 1611 his father married Nur Jahan, the widowed daughter of
a Persian noble. She rapidly became an important member of Jahangir's court
and, together with her brother Asaf Khan, wielded considerable influence.
Arjumand was Asaf Khan's daughter and her marriage to Khurram consolidated Nur
Jahan and Asaf Khan's positions at court.
Aurangzeb was born in 1618 as the
third son and sixth child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. In June 1626, after
an unsuccessful rebellion by his father, Aurangzeb and his brother Dara Shukoh
were kept as hostages under their grandparents' (Nur Jahan and Jahangir) Lahore
court.
45 years ago - in 1975, India saw its darkest phase when then
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared emergency across the country. The
emergency was issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352(1) of
the Constitution and lasted 21 long months beginning 25th June 1975 and going
on until 21st March 1977.
3 past PMs of India - Rajiv PV Narasimha rao and Indira Gandhi
On 12 June 1975, Justice
Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court found the PM guilty on the charge of misuse of government
machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election null and
void and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. The court also banned her
from contesting any election for an additional six years. Serious charges such
as bribing voters and election malpractices were dropped and she was held
responsible for misusing government machinery and found guilty on charges such
as using the state police to build a dais, availing herself of the services of
a government officer and use of
electricity from the state electricity department. Indira Gandhi challenged the High Court's
decision in the Supreme Court. Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, on 24 June 1975,
upheld the High Court judgement and ordered all privileges Gandhi received as
an MP be stopped, and that she be debarred from voting. However, she was
allowed to continue as Prime Minister pending the resolution of her appeal.
JP Narayan
and Morarji Desai called for daily anti-government protests. On 25th
June 1975 JP organised a large rally in
Delhi, where he said that a police officer must reject the orders of government
if the order is immoral and unethical as this was Mahatma Gandhi's motto during
the freedom struggle. Such a statement was taken as a sign of inciting
rebellion in the country. Later that day, Indira Gandhi requested a compliant
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to proclaim a state of emergency. Within three
hours, the electricity to all major newspapers was cut and the political
opposition arrested.
So from 25th
June 1975 for 21 months it was dark days of Emergency – the order bestowed upon the Prime Minister the authority
to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be
curbed. For much of the Emergency, most of Indira Gandhi's political opponents
were imprisoned and the press was censored. News was censored and remember that
Thuglak had nothing but a dark black colour on its coverpage and Indian Express
used to release its paper with dark ink cutting out many of its daily news.
How much the
Nation remembers its history !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
25.6.2020
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