In the times of crisis even lord Vishnu came down to earth in order to reestablish dharma or what we can simply call as Law and Order when the evil forces seemed to pervade over our land. We are hoping that this catastrophe will be soon wiped out by the great mighty force until then mother Earth keeps protecting its children in ways we can never comprehend. On 15th September 1939 one such cry was heard in the city of Mylapore, (Chennai) when most corrupt men were sleeping unaware of what was about to come, while most people do not know the contribution of this man to the nation, I wish to unravel certain incidents which are not only an inspiration to us but will make us wonder what goes into making a man like him , yes it is none other than Dr. Subramanian Swamy, the former commerce minister ,law and justice minister and currently serving as a Member of parliament in the BHARATIYA JANTA PARTY. Dr. Subramanian Swamy although born in Mylapore his family soon shifted to Delhi because of the nature of his father's job. Dr. Swamy's father was a Bureaucrat and his mother a homemaker. Swamy like most children of bureaucrats had the opportunity to meet stalwarts like K.KAMARAJ in his childhood, while he would openly interact with these men his father never opposed to it. It is known to a very few people that he was very carefree and oblivious in his childhood but one has to admit that he was always courageous, his mother would often think of him as a duffer but to her surprise Dr. Swamy had aced in mathematics in the school leaving and college examinations. Dr. Swamy is an alumni of the prestigious Hindu college where he obtained his degree in B.SC MATHEMATICS, many questioned Swamy as to why he took a subject which was not only complex in nature but makes most people sweat in their dreams, Dr. Swamy was not only a man of piercing intellect but a man with robust character and strength , Dr. Swamy was on the brink of becoming the finest swimmers in the country but fate had some other plans for him. He could not devote much time to it due to labor required in obtaining the degree in mathematics. Swamy to pursue his higher studies went to the famous INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE. The dean of the college,Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis- the famous statistician who had set up the ISI, the man behind the disastrous five year plans , was also a stern rival of Swamy's father because of which and many other reasons he would deliberately grade swamy less in all his examinations. The turning point in Swamy's life came when the tussle between him and Mahalanobis, caused him to be on the list of students to be rusticated. Swamy thinking of how to escape this trap sat in the library flipping pages of books and magazines until his eye fell on the research of the dean , which swamy figured out to be not an original research but just a modification to an existing theorem which was claimed to be an innovation by him. To this Swamy wrote to the prestigious journal econometrica which reviewed what swamy had pointed out and to their surprise it was extraordinary for a 19 yr old to do so. They immediately got in touch with the Harvard School of Economics which wanted Swamy to be a part of their institute. To everybody's surprise the dean later on took the credit for Swamy's success.
Dr. Swamy completed his doctorate in economics and became additional professor in Harvard where he was the favourite of Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson whom he assisted by pointing out a mistake in his research in the groundbreaking theory of index numbers. I may regard of what may have been as the most happening moment in the life of Dr. Swamy was he met the love of his life,his other half ,his partner in the successful execution of most of his plans- Dr. Roxana Swamy! , it is obvious that a man with such developed cognitive intelligence would have not been impressed so easily, Ma'am Roxana Swamy is also a doctorate in Mathematics and an advocate by profession.
During his stay at Harvard he married Dr. Roxana and also met leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan ,whom Swamy was flabbergasted to look at when he came dressed up in a three piece suit. Nevertheless the stories of Harvard can be endless,but Swamy due to circumstances had to return to India where he taught at the IIT against the teeth of opposition of the entire left wing, Swamy was the only man standing. The authorities of IIT decided to take a revenge on Swamy for which he is still fighting a case, it has been 22 years. Swamy is a father to two , Geetanjali Swamy And Suhasini Haider. Geetanjali is an entrepreneur and Suhasini an editor in the Hindu.
During 1970's the situation in our country was not somewhat but completely unstable , the economy was in devastating conditions, the industrial output had fallen,the export-imports had substantially declined,the price of rupee had fallen, United States persuaded Mrs.Indira Gandhi to make certain fundamental changes in the economic policies of the nation, unemployment was at its peak,the prices of mundane commodities had sky rocketed, amidst this Mrs.Gandhi was not concerned of what was happening in her nation but was conscious of her image in the international arena. In such a crisis what is known as the darkest period in the history of Independent India was witnessed. The declaration of emergency. The entire nation gasped ,the press censorship was imposed, the democratic process stalled, authoritarianism imposed,leaders in jail, civil liberties abolished, the situation was tight and the night prior to imposition of emergency Swamy was at Jay Prakash Narayan's house. It was 5 am when Swamy reached his home and his landline rang, a police officer on the other side warned him of his arrest in a manner which only Swamy could decode. He packed his tiny suitcase and with fortune in his favour a Sikh acquaintance of him had given him a ready made pagdi or turban which he donned along with a north Indian attire of Pant shirt and a bracelet also known as kada in Sikh faith and left for Gol market where he resided in the residence of a friend. Throughout, the police looked for Swamy like a cat behind a rodent , so he could not stay in a place for long,he kept traveling ,when Swamy got exhausted , Nanaji Deshmukh, a veteran social activist and a member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh asked Swamy to leave for Gujarat,before he left for Gujarat, Nanaji informed Swamy to get down at Maninagar instead of Ahmadabad where Mr. Narendra Modi would escort him to the house of a minister where Swamy would take shelter. In 1975 some discussions among the veterans and well wishers of Swamy decided that he would no longer stay in India and that he had to leave for America for which he made arrangements with Harvard. In those days there was a flight for Colombo every hour so Swamy went to airport through Chennai , the stars were in favour because in Chennai the DMK government was not observing the emergency,but when Swamy got to airport the officials confirmed that no flights were available for the time being but it seemed like that even cosmos did not wish Swamy to get caught,the Indian hockey team had to leave for their tournament so he boarded onto that flight. To this i would like to mention that he all he had was an American express card which was the only source of finance for him. While at Harvard he had mobilized a lot of views because to the surprise of Swamy nobody in America knew the scenario of our nation , unaware of who was arrested it was Swamy who brought into light that a 1,40,000 people were behind the bars without trials , which included leaders like JP and Morarji Desai, this excited the Americans. The situation in India was horrifying , even a courageous man like swamy thought this was the end of Democratic rule in India and that authoritarian rule will pervade but an year down the lane the motivation among the officials had declined, so this was the time when Swamy decided to make a return to India to prove that an underground turmoil was existent in the backdrop of propaganda by Mrs.Gandhi because the Americans seemed to not accept what Swamy had been telling. Dr. Swamy always traveled on his own passport regardless of the fact that he had to take shelter in various towns and countries so this came off as a challenge to him because back then it was a rule that a list of people travelling in aircraft to Delhi was sent to the authorities in Delhi but because Swamy is a genius he took a transit flight via Bangkok, the list was not sent to Delhi this way he could escape , Swamy was no longer wearing a Pagdi, he dressed like a Youth Congress Leader (pant-shirt,along with a Gandhi topi) which helped him escape through customs because those were the days when the Youth Congress could do anything. During the 70-80s the airports were small hence the taxis were available easily, Swamy quickly boarded one , reached a hotel and rang his wife and informed her of the plan which he had been cooking which was extremely risky but risks are meant to be taken in times of crisis. Through his sources he had got to know that the there was a roster shift everyday at 7pm so he told his wife to bring his Sikh attire to the hotel and that he would come dressed up as a Sardar/Sikh electrician a few moments prior to the shift, this would keep the next shift of policemen oblivious of the Swamy's entry inside his home. Not only did he succeed in entering his house but stayed there for five days without the slightest hint to the policemen patroling.
On the 10th of august the Parliament was about to commence,it is on this day that Swamy decided to prove to everyone of what he said, he got into the car and drove to the Parliament and parked near the gates of the Parliament. The entry inside the parliament was as exciting as the whole scenario has been, the staff of the Parliament saw Swamy. Ignorant of all that had been going they inquired from him whether he had been let off from the jail because Swamy had told them that he had signed the 20 point programme,since during this period anyone could sign the 20 point programme and breathe the life outside the bars but the policemen were desperate to get him arrested but Swamy knew that it was not possible for them because the list of people who were to be arrested and the arrest warrants were kept by the SHO and all the senior police officials were busy on that day as Sanjay Gandhi was leading a rally. He walked inside the Parliament and the timing was so perfect and favourable that just as he went and sat down the Vice President was reading the last name on the obituary list to which Swamy made a point of order,everyone was shocked to see Swamy, the Vice President inquired on the point of order to which Swamy responded by saying that in between the two sessions the DEMOCRACY HAD ALSO DIED , he should include that also in the list , to which the annoyed Vice President- B.D Jatti, openly disagreed, amidst this the other members were completely stunned seeing Swamy in the house. Swamy walked out of the house and changed his attire donned his Gandhi topi and clothes and reached the railway station hastily and found a gigantic police force but he had no way except to be audacious, he went near a Sub inspector and inquired of the ruckus, the Sub inspector comforted him because Swamy looked like a Youth congress leader , the inspector himself helped Swamy to reach his train boggy comfortably,what an irony indeed! This caused Mrs. Gandhi to be all infuriated and there was a nation wide man hunt for him anyone who resembled him or with the name Subramanian was arrested but the story does not come to an end here , Madhavrao Mule informed him that he had to leave India at any cost because if Swamy was caught he would have to be a victim of torture. He had to find a way out and just for all the challenges in his life Swamy did find his way out to this too, it was possible for him to leave India if he could board the Royal Nepal Airways but for that he required the consent of the king of NEPAL and he did get the consent because King Birendra Singh was his student at Harvard who agreed to help Swamy only if he crossed the border , because till then Nepal was not that much of a power and they would be under the risk of an attack if Mrs. Prime Minister found out of what he had done , but daring Swamy did cross the border , received by King's men, the King laid down a special flight to help Swamy escape.
But this detailed story was to be mentioned because this was the most daring act by a man all by himself ,against the entire authoritarian regime,who not only fooled it but proved that authoritarian rule cannot function in India, words will fall short to describe this man and his achievements , DR. Swamy is not only the hero of Emergency but also the man who unraveled the 2G scam and got telecom minister A. Raja to sit in the dust of jail and got the Gandhis stand in the court like ordinary people , the genius who persuaded the Chinese to clear off the path to Kailash Mansarovar for the Indian devotees who visit the holy shrine in huge numbers every year, the man who laid the blue print for the 1991 economic restructuring and is very soon going to make the Gandhis eat the bread of jail. Dr.Swamy can be described in THREE C's - CRUSADER,COURAGEOUS,CANDID.
On the 10th of august the Parliament was about to commence,it is on this day that Swamy decided to prove to everyone of what he said, he got into the car and drove to the Parliament and parked near the gates of the Parliament. The entry inside the parliament was as exciting as the whole scenario has been, the staff of the Parliament saw Swamy. Ignorant of all that had been going they inquired from him whether he had been let off from the jail because Swamy had told them that he had signed the 20 point programme,since during this period anyone could sign the 20 point programme and breathe the life outside the bars but the policemen were desperate to get him arrested but Swamy knew that it was not possible for them because the list of people who were to be arrested and the arrest warrants were kept by the SHO and all the senior police officials were busy on that day as Sanjay Gandhi was leading a rally. He walked inside the Parliament and the timing was so perfect and favourable that just as he went and sat down the Vice President was reading the last name on the obituary list to which Swamy made a point of order,everyone was shocked to see Swamy, the Vice President inquired on the point of order to which Swamy responded by saying that in between the two sessions the DEMOCRACY HAD ALSO DIED , he should include that also in the list , to which the annoyed Vice President- B.D Jatti, openly disagreed, amidst this the other members were completely stunned seeing Swamy in the house. Swamy walked out of the house and changed his attire donned his Gandhi topi and clothes and reached the railway station hastily and found a gigantic police force but he had no way except to be audacious, he went near a Sub inspector and inquired of the ruckus, the Sub inspector comforted him because Swamy looked like a Youth congress leader , the inspector himself helped Swamy to reach his train boggy comfortably,what an irony indeed! This caused Mrs. Gandhi to be all infuriated and there was a nation wide man hunt for him anyone who resembled him or with the name Subramanian was arrested but the story does not come to an end here , Madhavrao Mule informed him that he had to leave India at any cost because if Swamy was caught he would have to be a victim of torture. He had to find a way out and just for all the challenges in his life Swamy did find his way out to this too, it was possible for him to leave India if he could board the Royal Nepal Airways but for that he required the consent of the king of NEPAL and he did get the consent because King Birendra Singh was his student at Harvard who agreed to help Swamy only if he crossed the border , because till then Nepal was not that much of a power and they would be under the risk of an attack if Mrs. Prime Minister found out of what he had done , but daring Swamy did cross the border , received by King's men, the King laid down a special flight to help Swamy escape.
But this detailed story was to be mentioned because this was the most daring act by a man all by himself ,against the entire authoritarian regime,who not only fooled it but proved that authoritarian rule cannot function in India, words will fall short to describe this man and his achievements , DR. Swamy is not only the hero of Emergency but also the man who unraveled the 2G scam and got telecom minister A. Raja to sit in the dust of jail and got the Gandhis stand in the court like ordinary people , the genius who persuaded the Chinese to clear off the path to Kailash Mansarovar for the Indian devotees who visit the holy shrine in huge numbers every year, the man who laid the blue print for the 1991 economic restructuring and is very soon going to make the Gandhis eat the bread of jail. Dr.Swamy can be described in THREE C's - CRUSADER,COURAGEOUS,CANDID.
A very comprehensive writeup
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