J. P. In Jail

When Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency in 1975, the people of India were deprived of their freedom and fundamental rights. The event remains a dark chapter in the history of the sub-continent. Jayaprakash Narayan, branded ‘Enemy No.1’ of the state, was arrested under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and dispatched to Chandigarh’s ‘Emergency Jail’. Faced with the state’s brute force, individuals and institutions surrendered and the world’s largest democracy was drifting towards dictatorship. JP, who had tirelessly toiled for the triumph of freedom, dared the might of Emergency dictatorship and fought to restore democracy in India. During JP’s six-month confinement, India’s ‘Second Mahatma’ transformed defeat into triumph; the ‘Delhi Durbar’ indulged in a series of intrigues to isolate and incapacitate him, and reconciliation between Indira Gandhi and JP was sabotaged by a ‘coterie’ wielding ‘veto power’. A riveting first-person, authentic and uncensored account by M.G. Devasahayam, who as district magistrate and inspector-general, prisons, at the time, was in effect JP’s custodian, and closely associated with him throughout his confinement.