India, June 6 -- This column was written on a day which marks 50 years of Jaiprakash Narayan's call for Sampoorn Kranti (total revolution) in Patna (June 5). While JP's clarion call in 1975 was targeted at politics at large, students played a big role in the agitation which would eventually force Indira Gandhi to declare the Emergency. The JP movement prepared ground for the Congress losing power in India two years later and changed Indian politics forever. The student leaders who led the agitation in Bihar, and in many other parts of the country, went on to become successful and important politicians in India.

2025 marks 50 years of the Emergency and there is bound to be a lot of writing on the event and its implications for India. Amon...