Satyamev Jayate: A book written in Jail during emergency era
Emergency, the darkest era of Indian history which has been commemorated since 1975 in different forms be it television sagas or print publications, registered to its existing list, a novel describing the era using fictitious characters on the 37th anniversary of imposition of Emergency.
Book 'Satyamev Jayate' by Gopal Vyas is first novel to have fictitious characters describing the pain and agony of the Indians during emergency.
Gopalvyas, former engineer and MP wrote this book while he was in Raipur jail from 1975-77 during emergency. The publishing of the book has been attempted twice since then but failed due to the misplacement of the diary which was written in jail.
According to Gopal Vyas , " The youth today is untouched with the efforts made by leaders during the time of emergency and hence is unable to gauge certain informal forms of emergency that are existing in the country. It was the desire of many leaders of that time to have a book on this era and hence I gave shape to it."
The 'blackest era' has been described in three sections in the book. The first section talks about the pre emergency era where the nation was struggling with certain developmental issues where as the second section describes the transition of the country into the dark phase and its implications.
"How each one of the leaders struggled to deal with that controversial phase under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been described in the book so that no injustice is done to anybody's efforts which contributed to the removal of state of emergency" Goplavyas told in an interview.
The third section is dedicated to poems written by different poets of the era followed by transcription of different speeches by leaders like JP Narayan, LK Advani, Subramanian Swamy, Morarji Desai and others which were delivered during the struggle to remove emergency.
Quizzed on the use of fictional characters in the book the author says, "During the time of emergency I used to write my thoughts and then current scenario in my diary. Due to the fear of forfeiture and seizure by the jail authorities I used to write it using fictious names. The characters even the name of the country is fictious. ".
Gopal Vyas adds that at the time of editing it was discussed whether the fictious names should be replaced with real names or not and finally the committee settled on using the fictious characters to keep the feel intact. However the description of each character has been given in the end.
The foreword of the book has been written by Janata Party President who played a crucial role during the emergency. "The problem with the youth then, Swamy said, was that they believed that struggling on such issues was an impossible task and the trend still continues. I believe this book will be able to develop understanding and awareness in the youth about the era and motivate them to take up further challenges in the country" said Swamy on the occasion of book release.
The cover of the book for describing the 'black era' is indeed colourful with shades of tricolour on it. The cover endorses Mother India (Bharat Mata) with photographs of leaders like JP Narayan, Subramanian Swamy, Arun Jaitely, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Morraji desai, Chandrashekhar Azaad and other important leaders of the era in the background.
At the bottom of the cover there are pictures of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi stretching across the tagline " Imposition of emergency: Midnight 25 June, 1975".
The paperback priced at Rs 299 has been published by Sanjeevni Publications and has been dedicated to all the people and families who had to face extreme mental, financial, and unusual physical harassment while struggling for removal of emergency.
Book 'Satyamev Jayate' by Gopal Vyas is first novel to have fictitious characters describing the pain and agony of the Indians during emergency.
Gopalvyas, former engineer and MP wrote this book while he was in Raipur jail from 1975-77 during emergency. The publishing of the book has been attempted twice since then but failed due to the misplacement of the diary which was written in jail.
According to Gopal Vyas , " The youth today is untouched with the efforts made by leaders during the time of emergency and hence is unable to gauge certain informal forms of emergency that are existing in the country. It was the desire of many leaders of that time to have a book on this era and hence I gave shape to it."
The 'blackest era' has been described in three sections in the book. The first section talks about the pre emergency era where the nation was struggling with certain developmental issues where as the second section describes the transition of the country into the dark phase and its implications.
"How each one of the leaders struggled to deal with that controversial phase under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been described in the book so that no injustice is done to anybody's efforts which contributed to the removal of state of emergency" Goplavyas told in an interview.
The third section is dedicated to poems written by different poets of the era followed by transcription of different speeches by leaders like JP Narayan, LK Advani, Subramanian Swamy, Morarji Desai and others which were delivered during the struggle to remove emergency.
Quizzed on the use of fictional characters in the book the author says, "During the time of emergency I used to write my thoughts and then current scenario in my diary. Due to the fear of forfeiture and seizure by the jail authorities I used to write it using fictious names. The characters even the name of the country is fictious. ".
Gopal Vyas adds that at the time of editing it was discussed whether the fictious names should be replaced with real names or not and finally the committee settled on using the fictious characters to keep the feel intact. However the description of each character has been given in the end.
The foreword of the book has been written by Janata Party President who played a crucial role during the emergency. "The problem with the youth then, Swamy said, was that they believed that struggling on such issues was an impossible task and the trend still continues. I believe this book will be able to develop understanding and awareness in the youth about the era and motivate them to take up further challenges in the country" said Swamy on the occasion of book release.
The cover of the book for describing the 'black era' is indeed colourful with shades of tricolour on it. The cover endorses Mother India (Bharat Mata) with photographs of leaders like JP Narayan, Subramanian Swamy, Arun Jaitely, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Morraji desai, Chandrashekhar Azaad and other important leaders of the era in the background.
At the bottom of the cover there are pictures of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi stretching across the tagline " Imposition of emergency: Midnight 25 June, 1975".
The paperback priced at Rs 299 has been published by Sanjeevni Publications and has been dedicated to all the people and families who had to face extreme mental, financial, and unusual physical harassment while struggling for removal of emergency.
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