It is a well-known fact that the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu leaves no opportunity in claiming that MK Stalin was arrested under MISA during the Emergency.
Now that the dark days of the Emergency are being talked about on its 48th anniversary, the question of whether Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin was truly arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency period has resurfaced. Despite Stalin’s claims of being a detainee during that time, recent efforts to obtain records through Right to Information (RTI) requests have revealed a lack of evidence.
Selva Kumar, the Vice President of the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Industrial cell, took the initiative and filed an RTI to obtain the list of individuals arrested under MISA.
மிசா கைதிகள் பட்டியல் வேண்டி RTI மனு போட்டோம். அதற்கு கிடைத்த பல்வேறு பதில்கள்
– சென்னை மத்திய சிறை : 1999 சிறை கலவரத்தில் அழிந்துவிட்டது
– கோவை மத்திய சிறை : கடந்த 12 ஆண்டு கால தரவுகள் மட்டுமே இருக்கிறது.
– வேலூர் : செல் அரித்துவிட்டது
– கடலூர் : 2011ல் வந்த தானே புயலில்… pic.twitter.com/8VOQQGK3ln— Selva Kumar (@Selvakumar_IN) June 25, 2023
However, the responses to the requests from various central jails in Tamil Nadu presented a puzzling scenario. The Chennai Central Jail response stated that the records had been destroyed during the jail riots that took place on 17 November 1999. Similarly, the Coimbatore Central Jail could only provide data for the last 12 years, citing the RTI Act of 2005 and the limited record-keeping period specified in the Tamil Nadu Prison Manual Rules – 1983. The admission records of MISA prisoners during the 1975-1977 period were deemed untraceable and thus could not be furnished.
Further RTI requests to Vellore Prison and Cuddalore Jail met with similar obstacles. The Vellore Prison response indicated that due to the passage of 47 years, the requested information could not be provided as the records were in a state of disrepair.
The Cuddalore Prison cited the Thane cyclone, which struck on December 30, 2011, destroying old records, making it impossible to retrieve the information sought.
Unfolding Of Events
The timeline of the emergency is articulated well in this tweet:
Timeline of Emergency in India:
12 Jun 1975 – Allahabad HC disbars Indira Gandhi as an MP for election malpractices
25 Jun 1975 – President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signs the proclamation of internal emergency
26 Jun 1975 – Opposition leaders including JP, Morarji Desai, Vajpayee… pic.twitter.com/5s99oTGc08
— Tamil Labs 2.0 (@labstamil) June 26, 2023
Shah Commission Report
The Shah Commission Report detailed the excesses done during the Emergency period noted that in Tamil Nadu 1027 people were arrested and except for 1, everyone else was given the detention copy and an acknowledgement was available. A total of 570 people mostly politicians were arrested in Tamil Nadu and out of that number 419 were from the DMK. Here are some screenshots from the Shah Commission Report:
During the 21 months of Emergency from 1975-1977, 34,988 people were arrested under MISA and 75,818 people were arrested under DISIR (Defence of India Act). It is said that there was not much of a repercussion in Tamil Nadu under the DMK regime after the Emergency was declared in June 1975. MK Stalin even had his wedding in August of that year, right amid the Emergency. There are contradictory reports that the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had himself blessed the newlyweds in person while some other reports suggest that he was not present at the wedding ceremony but sent his best wishes.
However, things are said to have changed after the DMK government was dissolved on 31 January 1976, two months before the next elections could have been held. However, since the country was in an Emergency, elections could not be held in a free and fair manner, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed called for the government’s dissolution, and subsequently, President’s rule was implemented.
Now, were MK Stalin and other DMK members arrested for protesting this dissolution, or were they arrested under MISA for opposing the Emergency is indeed a big mystery.
Here is a break-up of the detentions under MISA in Tamil Nadu:
Now as we scroll through the Shah Commission Report, we also come across this:
This point indicates that there were arrests under MISA but not necessarily for violating the terms and conditions of the Act.
Not only do RTIs turn up with no evidence, but the Report also does not mention Stalin’s name anywhere. While Stalin has and continues to make use of every opportunity to highlight his arrest, until the time he furnishes his detention copy, questions will continue to be raised about whether he was detained for protesting the Emergency or for an altogether different reason.
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