India, 1977: A Libertarian Populist Moment

Matthew Connelly’s outstanding Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population nearly brought a pro-democratic tear to my elitist libertarian eye. Trotsky once wrote that:

In a country where the sole employer is the state… [t]he old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced with a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.

Well, during Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship, the new socialist principle became “Who refuses sterilization shall not eat”:

Sterilization became a condition not just for land allotments, but for irrigation water, electricity, ration cards, rickshaw licenses, medical care, pay raises, and promotions. Everyone, from senior government officials to train conductors to policemen, was given a sterilization quota…

Altogether, in the course of one year, the government would record more than 8 million sterilizations: 6.2 million vasectomies and 2.05 million tubectomies.

This led to a rare episode of libertarian populism:

The people of India, however, had had enough. Hundreds were being killed from botched sterilizations – according to official statistics, 1774 if them. There was no way to count the number who were being hauled away to sterilization camps against their will…

In the face of popular protest, Indira Gandhi decided to release political prisoners and authorize an election:

Most observers, like Gandhi herself, expected the Congress Party would win again, as they had won every election since independence. Opponents were released from jails, but they had only two months to organize…

Opponents cobbled together a coalition and agreed to field their stongest candidate in every district. India’s newspapers were finally free to report the abuses in the family planning program. More than half the election coverage explicitly mentioned the issue. Gandhi’s cabinet rejected the Maharashtra law, withdrew a proposal for “disincentives” for government employees, and closed the sterilization camps. Nevertheless, as Gandhi campaigned across India, the crowds were disappointingly small at her campaign rallies. When some women literally turned their backs to her, the prime minister waded into the audience and tried to turn them around…

At last, in the largest democratic election in history, the people of India produced one of history’s great political upsets. The prime minister herself was routed in her home district… The Congress Party was defeated all across northern India. They lost 141 out of 142 seats in the states that had registered the largest increases in sterilization (in the previous election, Congress had carried 80 percent in these areas). In Delhi the crowds stayed up through the night to cheer as the results came in…

Something even more powerful, even more implacable, had finally defeated the ideology of population control: People voting, one by one.

The majority rarely asks for liberty, but when it does, it’s beautiful.

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