S Jaishankar on Sunday reminisced about his UPSC journey, stating that his interview for the exam in Delhi took place the same day the Emergency was lifted — March 21, 1977.
“(1977) Election results were coming from the previous day… The sense of the defeat of the Emergency rule was coming into understanding. In a way, that is what got me through the interview,” said Jaishankar.
The 21-month Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975 and lifted on March 21, 1977.
Jaishankar shared his experience while addressing a gathering of the fresh batch of entrants to the civil services, terming the coveted UPSC exam akin to an ‘Agni Pariksha’ (trial by fire).
Jaishankar shares takeaways from his UPSC interview
The EAM, who is now 70-years -old, said his 22-year-old self had returned from the interview with two key takeaways – the significance of communication under pressure and that important people may be living in a “bubble”.
“My interview was on March 21, 1977. That was the day the Emergency was revoked. Revoked! So, I go in for an interview at Shahjahan Road… First person that morning,” recalled the EAM.
Jaishankar said, in the interview, he was asked about the 1977 elections — India’s fist after the Emergency.
Citing his association with JNU as a student and his subject of political science, the EAM reminisced, “I was lucky.”
“We had taken part in the 1977 election campaign. We had all gone there and worked for the defeat of the Emergency,” Jaishankar said.
So, in response, “I forgot I was in an interview”, and at that moment, “my communication skills somehow came together,” he added.
And, the second thing he said, he learned that day, of this “Lutyens’ bubble”.
“These people were really shocked, they could not believe that this election result had happened, whereas for us, the ordinary students, we could see that there was a wave against the Emergency,” the EAM recalled of the interview experience.
Describing the challenge of explaining that shift to people “connected and sympathetic to the government,” without offending them – Jaishankar noted – was a test in diplomacy, long before he officially became a diplomat.
The Emergency
Nearly a month ago, the Modi government marked the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, with events held across the country to recall what its leaders called a “dark chapter” in Indian democracy.
The Janata Party, a coalition of opposition leaders, emerged victorious in the 1977 elections, handing a defeat to Indira Gandhi, and Morarji Desai became the prime minister.