India, June 27 -- Forty-five summers ago, a state of Internal Emergency was declared by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. On Friday, random thoughts crossed my mind, pertaining to certain significant happenings that preceded this controversial step. The month of June, perhaps, has changed the course of this country's destiny more than any other calendar-month: It was on 23 June 1953, when Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, passed away in Srinagar, leaving behind a political entity that was ideologically diametrically opposite to the Congress. The BJP is the new avatar of this political thesis.

It was again on 23 June 1980 when Sanjay Gandhi, who was being groomed to take over the reins of the government b...