PATNA, June 30 -- Sinhasan Khali Karo Ki Janata Aati Hai! When Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan roared with these lines of legendary Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' from the stage of Delhi's iconic Ram Leela Maidan, the janata (public) of the country rose with their echo. It however unnerved Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was facing salvos of public anger. Out of despair, she imposed what historians now recall as the dark chapter in Indian history - the Emergency, declared on June 25, 1975.

It was a paradox that Dinkar, who was revered and exalted to Rashtrakavi (national poet) status by Indira's father, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, for his poetry of rebellion, turned out to be a weapon in the hands of Indira's be...