In September last year - during the “dying moments” of the regime - the Raje Government had decided to grant monthly pension of Rs 6,000 or more to all those who had been detained by the Indira Gandhi regime during the Emergency in 1975-77.

The purpose was purely political: the scheme was intended to benefit a large number of Sangh parivar's political leaders and workers who were put behind the bars under preventive detention.

The BJP's argument was that all those people detained during Emergency were like freedom fighters of the British days.

It was simply absurd and ridiculous to equate the freedom fighters, who struggled and sacrificed to obtain freedom from the British raj, with those who were held during the Emergency.

The basic point is that while the “swatantra senanis” were prepared to go to the gallows for the noble cause they were fighting for, the majority of the Sangh parivar workers and leaders who were detained during the Emergency were those who cursed their fate, and even managed to get out of the prison by tendering apologies.

This is a matter of record. It is a matter of shame for the BJP leaders now to equate those who tendered apology with freedom fighters and Bhagat Singh.

The State exchequer cannot be burdened with such political largesse. There was only a small number of those who were the real followers of Jayaprakash Narayan (non-Sangh men) who were in jail in Rajasthan. (IPA)