Emergency symbolised the arrogance and mindless cruelty of power.

Though Mrs Gandhi declared in her first address to the nation after declaring Emergency that there was no need to panic, it was panic she set in the minds of millions of Indians.

To this date the question that remains unanswered is, how did our democratic order collapse so meekly before authoritarianism? To paraphrase a quote, how did Indians, when ordered to bend, crawl so easily?

The lesson from 1975 is that democracy cannot succeed without constant vigilance on the part of the citizenry. How well have we learned that lesson?