View: Dictatorial mindset led to emergency, but democracy’s roots have deepened SECTIONS View: Dictatorial mindset led to emergency, but democracy’s roots have deepenedBy Amit Shah, TOI Contributor Last Updated: Jun 26, 2021, 10:08 AM IST Share Synopsis The question that still remains unanswered is whether the brazen recourse to authoritarianism – when even the right to life was suspended and Parliament, judiciary and media were reduced to auxiliaries for the ambitions of a leader – was an aberration or represented the natural instincts of Congress’s dynastic politics. Forty-six years ago, a dark chapter of India’s history was written when the Congress government of the day led by PM Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency on the country, in an ugly spectacle of authoritarian arrogance, making a mockery of the country’s centuries-old democratic tradition. The question that still remains unanswered is whether the brazen recourse to authoritarianism – when even the right to life was suspended and Parliament, judiciary and media were reduced to auxiliaries for the ambitions of a leader – was an aberration or represented the natural instincts of Congress’s dynastic politics.