Thread by @dibakardutta_

While we remember the #Emergency today, it is important to tell the story of an estimated 1.2 crore people who were forcibly sterilised by the Congress regime between 1975 and 1977

This is the story of how Indira & Sanjay Gandhi infringed upon people's right to life.

Thread🧵-

After the Emergency came into effect, Sanjay Gandhi came up with a 5-point programme.

One of them was that of family planning and sterilisation (also called permanent birth control) in particular.

Listen to this speech from 1976 -

(2/n)

Look at the data on sterilisation from 1956 to 1979.

You can see a drastic rise during the 1974 and 1979 period. It is almost double than the 5 years preceding it.

How did it happen? And here lies the disturbing story of coercion and intimidation.

(3/n)

Sanjay Gandhi believed that family planning was critical to poverty reduction

He was well aware that past family planning programmes did not succeed and that mere govt appeals will not have any effect.

So, he chose 'compulsory sterilisation' as a means to solve the population… https://t.co/fVWvjubDqitwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The human experiment was carried out primarily in the States of UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh (infamously called the vasectomy belt at that time).

But first, the Indira Gandhi govt amended the Constitution to add 'Population control and family… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Number of sterilisations in 3 years:

Year 1975 - 13 lakhs

Year 1976 - 2.6 lakhs

Year 1977- 81 lakhs

Source:



(6/n) https://t.co/XLYF2FymMwwomenstudies.in/elib/pop_polic…

This is how it was made possible -

1. Congress govt took 2 months to put the program in action, i.e., build infrastructure and gather doctors to
perform the surgery.

2. Sanjay Gandhi set ambitious targets for sterilisation. Police Commissioners were awarded gold medals for… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3. Like we had mask mandates, people had to produce a certificate of sterilization to get their salaries or even renew their driving /rickshaw/ scooter /sales tax license.

4. Students whose parents had not undergone
sterilization were detained. Free medical treatment in… https://t.co/VbYwkTwIOmtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5. The Congress government issued circulars stating that promotion and payments to employees were in abeyance until they were sterilized or completed their assigned quota of people they convinced to undergo sterilization.

This is disgusting!

Source:

… https://t.co/3n5AaRJhe6asianstudies.org/publications/e…
twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@IndianWithLogic Yup. I wish Sanjay Gandhi himself came to do a vasectomy on your dad. In that way, we would have one less person mocking human right violation.

#Result:

1. Those who suffered the most were poor people, who were picked up from railway stations and bus stops by policemen (hoping for rewards from the government).

2. There was no age bar or any regard for marital status. Poor, illiterate men, jail inmates, bachelors,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3. Data shows that in Uttar Pradesh, vasectomy camps performed 331 operations per day initially, which then rose to 1,578 per day and later to 5,664 operations per day.

4. In Kerala, people were paid almost a month’s salary to get sterilized. Also, salaries or loan approvals of… https://t.co/lu3DGuuwzutwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@IndianWithLogic Can you imagine stepping out of your home and local police rounding you up and taking you straight to a hospital? No paperwork, no consent and a vasectomy is performed on you directly.

Your right to life, and right to procreate is taken away by the State on a whim without your… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5. Forced sterilisations, facilitated by local police & administration, were met with resistance and violence as well.

Protestors were shot dead by police for resisting the diktat to give up on their right to procreation. Such incidents were recorded in the Muzaffarnagar and… https://t.co/oR87PXBZR2twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

6. Safety of the patient was not the concern of the Congress govt. In order to meet targets, men and women alike were operated under unhygienic conditions, which later led to infections.

Due to no follow-up care, several patients (who were forcibly sterilised) died due to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

**Correction: The number of sterilisations that took place in the year 1976 was 26 lakhs and not 2.6 lakhs as stated in 6/n.

In total, 1.2 crore people had to undergo sterilisation between 1975 and 1977.

https://t.co/ZoSu5xmBSN

https://twitter.com/dibakardutta_/status/1672957993854582784

twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@Davy2Bones @RoKhanna Yup. Here is my article on him -

opindia.com/2023/03/know-a…

#Conclusion:

1. When we think of the #Emergency_in_1975, we think of restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

At best, we talk about the incarceration of Opposition leaders. But nothing comes close to the fact that the State infringed upon the bodily… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2. So whenever someone claims (out of political compulsion) that we are living under an 'undeclared Emergency', tell them this harrowing tale of the forced sterilisation of 1.2 crore people.

Request them to not downplay the sufferings of such a large number of individuals for… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3. In the worst-case scenario, you might find individuals (read idiots) who will justify the human rights violations witnessed during the 1975 Emergency.

In that case, you must urge them to undergo voluntary vasectomy/ tubectomy (depending on gender) at any nearby hospital.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Special thanks to @PrajaktaGupte and her meticulous research (much of which has been used while writing the Twitter thread).

It would not have been possible without her. Her article in Asian Studies has been linked twice - 8/n and 10/n.

Thank you, madam.

@Ballu_Bata_Zara *Dibakar😡

@anonymityismyth Thanks for the recommendation. I will check

#Bonus: Reaction of Indira Gandhi to her son's actions

https://twitter.com/skamaraj32/status/1672893536847511552?t=W65xOZmIXpWRuTNTJol6mw&s=19

Original source: YouTube/ Thames TV

Interview date is November 16, 1978