we don't have any information. Up to today I don't know what the charges are. I have been asking for the charges. What are the charges? I don't know.

It is being made out that he is an enemy of the state, that he has been indulging in criminal activities. Yes, if five or more people gather today in India it is a criminal act. The situation is totally arbitrary. Those with Mrs. Gandhi are the great ones in the country, those who are against her are the traitors.

Exhibit No. 4 is a transcript of a very precious tape from my husband, George Fernandes, that was received by us in this country. It was sent specifically to the Indians for Democracy for their last convention.i

I hope, Mr. Chairman, after I finish speaking you will permit me to play you 5 minutes of that tape if time permits.

Exhibit No. 5 is an article written by Azad. I am glad that I have the permission to disclose the authorship of this article which was published in the "New Republic."2 The author is Mrs. Nayantara Sahgal, first cousin of Indira Gandhi, daughter of Mrs. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, the first woman President of the United Nations who is the sister of Mrs. Gandhi's father, Jawaharlal Nehru. I am glad she has consented to have her name revealed before your committee. Her commitment is clearly stated in this article.

In connection with the massive manhunt that had been launched against my husband to find him from the underground, various types of torture were practiced on many, many people. One of the victims was my brother-in-law, Lawrence Fernandes. Exhibit No. 6 gives you the full details of the gruesome tortures that were carried out on him illegally while he was not even in judicial custody."

Lawrence Fernandes was taken away one night under a pretext. He was asked to come along with the police at 9 p.m., in the night when he was at home. The police said it was in connection with some habeas corpus petition of his other brother Michael Fernandes who has been in jail since December 1975. Thus he was taken along and for the next 20 days, Mr. Chairman, his aged parents did not know anything about his whereabouts. What they did to Lawrence Fernandes is too painful for me to recount but the details are all contained in exhibit No. 6.

Exhibit No. 7 will give you some further information about the manner in which the political prisoners are being kept in jails in India. It also makes an interesting point; namely-again an example of the double standards that are employed-whereas on the one hand, when there is any criticism from Western sources it is dismissed as malicious and vile and vicious, but when there is a little word of praise, that little word of praise is blown up out of proportion and given a lot of publicity.

Now, I find that very interesting and very strange and very significant.

1 See text of tape on p. 116.

2 Exhibit 5 has not been reproduced. 3 See exhibit 6 in appendix 6, p. 222.

4 See exhibit 7 in appendix 6, p. 224.

Exhibit No. 8 is one of the many letters which my husband wrote and distributed from the underground and again gives some idea of the state of affairs in India and my husband's own philosophy.1

Exhibits 92 and 102 are concerned with details which have been prepared by Lok Sangharsh Samiti in India and which, in fairly great detail, list the violations of human rights taking place constantly in India against anybody who has the audacity to differ and disagree. There is persecution of intellectuals, there is persecution of students, there is persecution of trade unionists and other people. There is a fairly extensive review of these details in exhibit No. 10.3

Mr. Chairman, sir, I will end my testimony here thanking you once again and appealing through you and your committee to the Government of the United States to please take note of these violations of human rights in India which are going on on a massive scale and to please think about these matters and try and do something so that this sort of thing does not continue.

Thank you, sir.

If you will give me permission, I will play the tape now. [The transcription of the tape follows:]

On behalf of the underground from somewhere in India:

Across the country hundreds of us are hunted and hounded by a ruthless dictatorship, for the simple reason that we will not give up the fight; the fight to restore to the people their lost rights and freedoms. Seven months ago we belonged to a country that prided in calling itself the world's largest democracy, with its parliamentary institutions and free press. Today, the country lies prostrate, the press muzzled, the judiciary in shackles, and the Parliament converted into a rubber stamp of the dictator. And here we are, citizens of Free India, living and operating like fugitives in our own country * * *

*** I do not want to take your time by reporting on the situation in India. Does it really matter anymore if the number of people imprisoned without a trial is one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand, when the Attorney General of India and the Government advocates of all Congress-ruled states are on record telling the Supreme Court that under the new dispensation of Mrs. Gandhi citizens not only do not have the fundamental rights, including the right of Habeas Corpus, but even natural rights, including the right to live, does not exist any more. The Attorney General said, and I quote: "A man cannot only be deprived of his liberty, but also of his life, without trial and without even being given the reasons therefor."

But I must say, the dictator still has a sense of humor, though it stinks of morbidity. The Attorney General told the same court in the same breath, and again I quote: "it is, however, open to the dependents of the man who has been killed to later (that is, after the Emergency is lifted) go to the Court to obtain damages for the lost life."

Do you still need reports of what is happening? Political prisoners are subjected to third degree tortures and humiliation unheard of even during the days of the struggle against British Imperialism. But as I said, let me not take your time on these matters. The only point I would like to make is that if this is the price one has to pay for the trains to run on time and for people to stand in bus queues, then let the trains run late and let there be no bus queues, but let the people have their liberty and the right to live.

You know as well as I do that the Emergency in India has nothing to do with rising prices or with the running of the trains nor with any threats to the security of the country.

Its one and only purpose is to protect the personal power of Mrs. Gandhi and to keep in office her utterly corrupt and thoroughly incompetent government. Mrs. Gandhi is also using it to finally establish the Nehru dynasty. If you realize that next to her it is now her son, Sanjay of Maruti notoriety, who is projected

1 See exhibit 8 in appendix 6, p. 225.

2 Exhibits 9 and 10 are not reproduced.

3 Exhibit 10 is not reproduced.

as the hope for India. A gang of criminals and professional cheats is tightening its grip on the country.

Most thinking Indians are aware that there is no going back now for Mrs. Gandhi. If I may use a time-worn cliche, she cannot dismount the tiger anymore. And therefore, as far as I can see, the battle lines are now clearly drawn. Either one is on the side of the dictatorship of Mrs. Gandhi, or one will have to stand up and be counted with the fighters for freedom and democracy. There is no other choice.

We in the underground have no illusions about the size of the problem that we face. We are fully aware that we are up to a long and hard struggle, a struggle that will call for great sacrifices. Another generation of Indians fought British Imperialism to wrest the country's freedom, and with freedom we acquired our rights and responsibilities: a Constitution that was hailed as a charter of liberty, a free press that was our pride, a judiciary that evoked our respect, and all the dreams of joy and happiness for our people. All that is in shambles today for one mad megalomaniac to stay in power. It is now given to our generation to pay the price to restore our lost freedoms, and that we shall do * * * Mr. FRASER. Thank you very much, Mr. Fernandes.

The tape transcript I think as you pointed out is in exhibit 4.
Mrs. FERNANDES. Yes, sir.

Mr. FRASER. It is not exactly, some lines are out.

Mrs. FERNANDES. It was edited for the sake of brevity.

[Mrs. Fernandes prepared statement follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY LEILA KABIR FERNANDES

Mr. Chairman, it is indeed heartening that this Committee is showing so much concern for human rights in the world. Indeed, this is a subject of universal concern and transcends national barriers. Unfortunately, however, the tendency of human nature is to adjust and to repress what is unpalatable in order to maintain peace of mind. Thus, in the case of gross violation of human rightsfrom the initial reaction of revulsion, shock, disgust and horror-the mind gets gradually desensitized and immunized to the indignities and the desecrations. Intensity and permanence are opposed. Casualness and indifference or even a neutral stance is what we specifically have to guard against as far as the violation of human rights is concerned. Technology has condensed our globe, and this condensation of time and space demand and make imperative a perennial sensitivity, a constant vigilance and alertness to injustice and suppression of the human spirit in all its manifestations anywhere on this earth. Otherwise, what is the value of flying to the moon and photographing Mars? The technological feats of this century are nothing so long as mankind is enslaved in the meshes of torture, exploitation, hunger, and the degradation of poverty.

But while I am heartened at this Committee's interest and concern about the prevailing Indian situation and grateful for giving me this opportunity to testify, at the same time I must confess that my heart is very heavy as I find myself before you, looking to this august forum for redress. This reflects volumes upon the situation in India today. Here I am, thousands of miles away from my home; with no prospect of returning to the country that I love; with no knowledge of when I will see my husband, who has been in jail since June, 1976, whom I have not seen since June 26, 1975, and from whom I have received no news since his detention over three months ago; with no idea when I will ever see my aged mother, now 71 years old and living alone in Delhi.

Here I am before you today because neither I nor any of my countrymen and women today can find any forum of redress in our own country against the total suppression of personal and civil liberties which has come about under the new dispensation of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Before I proceed with my testimony, I must present my credentials. I come from a family that has an interesting social and political background and a certain commitment to basic human values. My parents came from the two major religions in India: Hinduism and Islam. My mother, Shanti Kabir (nee Das), is a member of the Brahmo Samaj-a protestant movement within Hinduism that was formed in the middle of the nineteenth century which rejected the ossifications of the caste system, substituted monotheism for the pantheism of Hinduism, and strongly advocated education and emancipation for women. She

spent terms in jail in the 1930's as a political prisoner for her activities in the freedom struggle against British rule in India. My father, the late Professor Humayun Kabir, was a poet, scholar, educationist, trade unionist and politician. A nationalist Muslin, he was against the concept of a theocratic state. In 1946, some fanatic Muslim leaguers tried to assassinate him. From 1957, until Mrs. Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966, he was a member of the Council of Ministers with Pandit Nehru and, after Nehru's death in 1964, with Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the first and second Prime Ministers of India respectively.

As for myself, I started out to be an academic but, after graduating in History and while studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University, I discovered Albert Schweitzer. Inspired by him I chose nursing as a career. From 1961 until 1966, I was on the teaching staff at the College of Nursing, Delhi University. In 1966, I joined the Indian Red Cross Society as Assistant Director, Nursing. In 1969 I became Assistant Secretary of the Indian Red Cross. During these years I had the opportunity to study the health scene in India, to work in the famine-stricken areas of Bihar during the great 1967 drought, I was involved with disaster relief programs, including, for some time, the relief program for the refugees from Bangladesh during the exodus in 1971.

In July, 1971, I married George Fernandes. Our marriage drew country-wide attention and recived wide publicity. Our wedding reception was attended by people of national eminence from all walks of life: artists, scholars, journalists, trade unionists, politicians, high-ranking members of the Government of India, including the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Born on June 3, 1930, George Fernandes comes from a Christian background, a Roman Catholic background. He started life to be a priest. After three years at the seminary, he felt his real vocation to serve God and man lay in practical work. Thus, at the age of nineteen, moved by the injustices and inequalities in India's society and inspired by the ideals of equality and a better life for all embodied in the program of the Socialist Party of India, he became a member in 1949. From then on, George Fernandes' life is a record of public service, always championing the cause of the poor and downtrodden. He had a flare for organizing the workers. Over the years, he organized many unions amongst dock, transport, hotel, municipal and other workers. He became a member of the National Committee of the Socialist Party in 1955, its Treasurer in 1964, General Secretary of the Samyukta (United) Socialist Party in 1969, and Chairman of the Socialist Party since 1973. Since 1968 Fernandes has been the founder-chairman of the Bombay Labor Cooperative Bank. He was invited by the International Labor Organisation to report on the working conditions of urban transport workers. A member of the Bombay Muncipal Council from 1961 to 1968, Fernandes came into the national scene in India in 1967 when he was elected to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) defeating the powerful Congress Party boss S. K. Patil. He served in the House until its premature dissolution by Mrs. Indira Gandhi in December, 1970.

In 1973, George Fernandes became President of India's largest railway union, the All India Railwaymen's Federation. Railwaymen are among the most poorly paid workers in India. Under the leadership of my husband, the railwaymen, disunited over the years, formed a new unity and cohesiveness and presented their demands for better wages and working conditions to the government. The government replied by arresting the union leaders and thousands of workers even as negotiations were going on, thus precipitating a lightning strike throughout India. The strike was crushed brutually, and, despite assurances, there were massive reprisals.

It is necessary to deal at some length regarding my husband's work until June 1975 as there has been a systematic campaign of slander and denigration against him, especially from July, 1975, after freedom of the press was abolished. The White Paper presented to the monsoon session of Parliament stated the Railway Strike as one of the principal causes for the need to impose "Emergency." It also stated that George Fernandes was the recipient of large foreign funds in May, 1974, and insinuated that he was in touch with Chairman Mao Tse Tung of China.

I think it is best that I let my husband's letter to Mrs. Gandhi on July 27, 1975, from the underground speak for itself (Exhibit 1). The Committee will note from it my husband's outspoken style, which is one of several factors in his incurring Mrs. Gandhi's intense wrath. I will only add, however, that when the Government of India realized its obvious mistake in stating May, 1974, as

the date for receipt of foreign funds, it later on changed the date on additional copies of the same publication, clumsily erasing 1974 to read 1975 without acknowledging the correction. I have seen both the original publication as presented on July 23, 1975, on the floor of the Lok Sabha as well as the amended version.

I also wish to submit the pamphlet "BIHAR: The Struggle for a New India" as Exhibit 2. This was a note written by my husband in December, 1974, and illustrates his philosophy, his sense of dedication and responsibility, and his commitment to civil liberties and democratic values.

A great tragedy is overtaking India. Step by step since June 26, 1975, the flame of freedom has been extinguished. For 600 million people the promise that Mr. Nehru made at midnight of August 15, 1949, of "a tryst with destiny" rings harsh and hollow. For the past 29 years, the Congress party has ruled India. Mr. Nehru, father of Indira Gandhi, was Prime Minister for 17 years. Between his death and his daughter's succession to the same post, there was a short interval of 18 months when Mr. Shastri was Prime Minister. Since January, 1966, Mrs. Gandhi has held this position. So it makes no sense to state that personal freedoms, civil liberties, the freedom of the press, and the freedom to disagree had to be suspended for the sake of an economic Utopia. Postponing national elections, jailing tens of thousands indefinitely without charge of trial, bull-dozing drastic constitutional amendments by a Rump Parliament that has outlived its legitimate time span: none of these measures can possibly herald the new economic dawn. These steps are not actions of strength; rather, they belie a deep insecurity and an obsession to retain the levers of power at all costs. Let us be very clear: suppression of freedom and liberty, incarceration, and torture will never result in solving India's formidable economic problems. Enforced sterilization as a policy for the three million government employees will not resolve the galloping birth rate of a population of 600 million. Nor will other violations of human rights lead to land to the landless, jobs to the 20 or 25 million unemployed, nor adequate food to the starving millions, of which 420 million, per the official statistics of the Government of India, live below the poverty line (i.e., cannot spend more than U.S. 20 cents a day).

For a more detailed account regarding the reasons for the launching of "Emergency" and the dictatorship. I submit the pamphlet entitled: "Indira's India: Anatomy of a Dictatorship," which has a preface by my husband, as Exhibit No. 3. As Exhibit No. 4, I submit the transcript of a taped message from my husband sent to Indians for Democracy before his arrest. More vividly than anything else, this postulates both the nature of the crisis confronting India and the dimensions of the challenge taken on by those unwilling to relinquish their responsibilities towards restoration of the lost milieu of liberty, within which alone a people can move forward towards realization of their deepest aspirations. As Exhibit No. 5 I submit the article by "Azad" published in The New Republic of August 7 and 14, 1976. Mrs. Gandhi's trump card in implementing her authoritarian rule has been censorship. No journal in India would have published “Azad's” article. Even for publication in this great country, “Azad had to resort to a pseudonym.

Censorship has cast a shroud over India from June 26, 1975. Selective manipulation and calculated distortion of news, imprisonment, intimidation and harassment of those ignoring the censorship "guidelines" are calculated to keep the population subdued and demoralized. One by one the last of the opinion magazines have closed down. As Exhibit No. 6, I submit the letter of my mother-inlaw. Alice Fernandes, detailing the brutal torture of my brother-in-law, Lawrence Fernandes, which was published in Janata, the Socialist weekly from Bombay. All copies of the offending issue were confiscated and the publication was banned. The publisher, Mr. G. B. S. Chowdhary, has since been arrested. Since June, 1975, Mrs. Gandhi and her cohorts have been denouncing the western press for its "malicious propaganda." But, Mr. Chairman, please note: if a word of praise emanates from any western source, it is immediately grabbed and made into a big news item. Exhibit No. 7, the recent letter from a political prisoner detained at Tihar Jail, Delhi, illustrates this point besides focusing attention upon the atrocious and inhumane conditions of detention at that jail. Exhibit No. 8 is one of many letters from the underground written by my husband which sketches the Indian scene as it was developing. Exhibits 9 and 10, "The Persecution of University Students and Teachers" and "Torture of Political Prisoners in India," were prepared by the Lok Sangharsha Samiti, New Delhi, India, and give details of how human rights are being violated in India.