Smt. Indira Gandhi, then the Prime Minister of India, declared a non-constitutional Emergency on 25 June 1975 and imprisoned leaders of all opposing political parties, including Chaudhary Charan Singh, and over 100,000 political activists and citizens from many walks of life. This remains the most serious threat to constitutional democracy that independent India has faced till date.

Chaudhary Charan Singh was released from Tihar Jail in Delhi on 7 March 1976 after a term of 8 months. On 23 March 1976, he poured scorn, fire and fury on Indira Gandhi, her Congress party, the mute legislators and spineless Congress leaders for four long hours in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Lucknow. Not a single word of this speech, though protected in the Legislature, could be published due to complete press censorship across the country. At this time, Singh was 74 years old, yet very much a lion. Singh delivered the powerful message that no political leader, no matter how popular, should forget that the people are supreme and he is simply a steward for a brief period in the life of the nation.

Chaudhary Charan Singh was at this time Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

This speech is published so we never forget the tens of thousands of patriots and democrats who went to jail in independent India to safeguard the Constitution and the rights given to us as free men and women.

“Friends, I ask you to think of the nation.

Our lives are transient, but the nation is immortal.”