On this day 45 years ago, the Emergency was declared.

In light of the MoU that the Congress Party signed with the CCP, perhaps it's the right day to remember how the Soviet Union played its part in undermining the JP movement to help you-know-who in India.

1/n https://twitter.com/ajitdatta/status/1275612145753808896

"The Soviet Union's interest in the CPI-New Congress alliance was not one of ideology. Mrs Gandhi's struggle for power in her party was backed by the Soviet Union for more important considerations."

You must be wondering who's quote it is, but does it ring a bell?

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What it reminded me of is the Chinese MoU and its alleged focus on the family. By the way, the quote is from none other than Nayantara Sehgal, Indira Gandhi's first cousin.

In another part of her book on IG, she reveals how the Soviets tried to undermine the JP movement.

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It began with Pravda's correspondents making stinging attacks on the Bihar movement.

Then, on the day the Bihar assembly reopened, Soviet cameramen landed up in the assembly chamber despite strict rules forbidding cameras. They claimed they had the "GOI's permission".

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The opposition benches objected and did not permit them. At who's behest they were acting and why they wanted to film the proceedings though is anyone's guess.

As the JP movement reached a crescendo, months before the Emergency, Congress held a series of secret conclaves.

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The first one was held at a village called Narora in UP. What the idea behind it was is puzzling, since barbed wire fences and thousands of tents for military and police personnel were errected, and armed guards patrolled the area.

However...

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Union Minister Mohan Dharia revealed a few months later that the Narora camp was attended by Soviet embassy officials!

Was it normal for officials from another country to attend secret conclaves of an Indian political party? Or was that the "secret" part of the conclave?

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What were they consulting each other on? Who was acting on who's behest?

Now this is only what is already in the public domain, and in the limited context of the JP movement (from just 1 book). There are many accounts of the extent to which KGB had penetrated the Congress.

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And of course, how PM LBS died under mysterious circumstances in Soviet territory, and who benefitted politically, is quite well documented. There is possibly a Soviet connection in Bose's dissapearance too.

So was the USSR helping one party/family retain power in India?

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And with the collapse of USSR, was the party/family looking to strike a similar deal with a foreign power? What does the foreign power get in exchange?

IDK when the details of the Chinese MoU will be made public. Until then, perhaps the Soviet relationship gives us a hint.

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