When French PM Jacques Chirac Accepted Invitation To Be Republic Day Chief Guest During Emergency

It had been six months since the Indira Gandhi government declared the Emergency in June 1975. The seventh month of the government Act hosted French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac as the Chief Guest.

The Emergency was to haunt the Congress Party as a spectre in the following decades. But what is the Emergency and why was it invoked?

What is an Emergency?

Article 352 mentions the Emergency in the Indian Constitution. The emergency gives the Central government power to suspend citizens' fundamental rights and curb other liberties people enjoy in normal circumstances.

The Emergency of 1975 is regarded as a blot on Indian democracy, as it was the first time that the government imposed the Emergency due to political reasons. The earlier invocations followed cross-border turmoil: the wars with China and Pakistan in 1962 and 1971 respectively.

Jacques Chirac a brief profile

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Jacques Chirac (1932-2019) was a French politician, who served as the country¡¯s president and prime minister from 1974-1976 and then from 1986-1988; he also assumed office as the President from 1995-2007.

Chirac¡¯s affability extended was a constant with India; he enjoyed a positive relationship with Primer Ministers¡¯ ranging from Indira Gandhi to Manmohan Singh.

¡°Chirac saw India beyond just snake-charmers and Jodhpur¡­ He viewed India as a major and emerging superpower and at par with China. He was the first French leader to understand India. He took a bet on India that paid off,¡± writes The Print quoting Mohan Kumar, India¡¯s former ambassador to France.

Chirac was the first Western leader to travel to India since the Emergency Declaration and held that this was an ¡®internal matter¡¯ of India. He was an all-weather friend to India and stood by the country¡¯s side when India was seeing itself as a pariah in the aftermath of the Pokran nuclear missile tests in 1998 and the threat of economic sanctions courtesy of the USA and other vested interests.

India-France Relations

The three main foundations of India-France¡¯s Strategic Partnership are cooperation in the fields of defence, space, and civil nuclear energy. ¡®Apart from these traditional fields of cooperation, India and France are increasingly engaged in new areas of cooperation like climate change, sustainable growth and development, the International Solar Alliance etc.¡¯ the Embassy of India in Paris writes.

France has been persistent in backing India's demand for permanent membership in the Security Council. That also includes ¡®Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and the Australia Group (AG).¡¯

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The countries on terrorism

Both countries are unanimous in their stand against terrorism and have agreed for the adoption of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the United Nations.

In Defence

¡®During the visit of President Macron to India, the two countries decided to create an annual defence dialogue at the Ministerial level. Regular exchange of visits at the level of Services Chiefs already takes place. The three services also have regular defence exercises; viz. Exercise Shakti (Army; the last one took place in January-February 2018 in France), Exercise Varuna (Navy; March 2018 in Goa), Exercise Garuda (Air Force; June 2014 at Jodhpur). Apart from service-level staff talks, the two sides have a High Committee on Defence Cooperation (HCDC) which meets annually at the level of Defence Secretary and the French Director General of the Directorate of International Relations and Strategy (DGRIS). The last HCDC meeting was held in New Delhi in March 2016. Apart from this, various staff courses, training programmes etc. also regularly take place.¡¯

The Embassy further writes about the major defence deals between the governments of India and France: purchase of Rafale aircraft and the Scorpene rocket.

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The Rafale Aircraft

¡®The Inter-governmental agreement for the purchase of 36 Rafale jets by India in flyaway condition was signed in New Delhi on 23 September 2016 by Raksha Mantri Manohar Parrikar and French Defence Minister Le Drian.¡¯

The Scorpene Rocket

¡®The contract for six Scorpene submarines from M/s DCNS was signed in October 2006. All six vessels are to be built under technology transfer at the Mazagaon Docks Ltd. Project implementation is underway. The first submarine INS Kalvari was commissioned in October 2017.¡¯
The robust relationship with France during Chirac¡¯s term as the prime minister and the president has grown stronger in the present times under President Macron of France and Prime Minister Modi of India and the purchase of state-of-the-art defence equipemnts- Rafale and the Scorpene rocket is a testament to our strong bond.