Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh is a man in hurry. He is in a hurry... to dole out unemployment allowance to some 8 lakh unemployed youths of the state; to strongly back his old friend-- Sahara's chairperson Subroto Roy over the Jet-Sahara deal; to come out clear in the cases relating to his unaccounted wealth in the Supreme Court; and to provide free bus travel to those booked under MESA during India Gandhi's emergency -- all this just months before the assembly elections in the state.

But amongst all controversies that Mulayam has found himself cornered in recent months... perhaps none have been more controversial than his government's recent decision to sanction Rs. 500 per month allowance and free bus travel to the victims of emergency --whom Mulayam prefers to call 'saviors of democracy'.

More shocking is the comparison of these emergency heroes with our freedom fighters. The questions that are being raised are:

Can emergency's hero George Fernandez be compared to freedom fighters such Gandhi, Patel and Nehru?

Can Sanjay Gandhi's obnoxious family planning be compared with draconian colonial laws?

And, can 200 year old struggle for independence be compared with two years of emergency?

Internal emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi on June 26, 1975 and exactly 31 years later on June, 26, 2006...Samajwadi Party leaders like Jaganath Mishra had this to say:

"The freedom we got in 1947 was like Roshogullas socked in blood. It was no freedom. But real freedom fighters were those who fought against the tyranny of Indira Gandhi during the emergency."

It's quite obvious that Mulayam's latest gimmick on emergency will hurt Congress the most; as emergency still remains one of the biggest scars in the history of the 110 year old party--- perhaps even worse than the Sikh massacre following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. And, what will worry the party the most is that Mulayam is hitting the Congress where it hurts them the most. He not only plans to offer appreciation certificates to these emergency heroes--- quite like the tamra patras given to the freedom fighters- but also contemplating introduction of a chapter on emergency in school text books.

Students who till now have been reading how freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were brutally tortured in British Jails... will now also know how George Fernandez's younger brother Lawrence was tied to a railway track and threatened that his mother would be raped if he did not reveal where his elder bother George was?

"Those were emergency days and while most leaders were caught and put behind bars... I remained underground. They (police) wanted to know from my brother where I was. This was one of the many faces of Indira Gandhi" says the former defense minister.

similarly, the teachers might also teach how Lohia's true shishya Mulayam Singh Yadav (who now prefers to move in a Mitsubishi Pajero) ... also spent several months in a jail at Etawah. (His own party general secretary Amar Singh though never suffered at the hands of Indira Gandhi as he had Congress leanings then. It's another story that Indira's daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi is compensating for what her mother-in-law did not do to Amar Singh during emergency!)

Obviously, sentiments were high on 26th of June, when Mulayam Singh invited hundreds of emergency heroes to Lucknow to honor them. On the dais were more than a dozen odd Samajwadi Party leaders --- and all of them virtually gave graphic descriptions how they suffered at the hands of Indira Gandhi during the emergency days.

And the audience was perhaps people from all generations... From 80 year olds--- who claimed to have fought the British and survived on to fight the 'bigger evil' -- Smt. Indira Gandhi to thirty-year olds who were probably only born when emergency was imposed. But none seem to mind a crisp 500 rupee charity from the government every month.

But if Mulayam's emergency syndrome gives Congress a big headache...it also hurts the BJP whose saffron brigade also suffered at the hands of Indira Gandhi. State BJP president Kesari Nath Tripathi fumed even as several dozen full time RSS workers cheered Mulayam as he described June 26th at the blackest day in Indian history.

"BJP was in power for so long...at the Centre as well as in the state. They never even thought about us. We all went to jail. But leaders like Atal and Advani got power...while we got nothing," asserted an RSS worker.

But if Jai Prakash Narain's Total Revolution or sampooran kranti just before the declaration of emergency got strong support of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad - a front organization of the RSS...can it be compared to the Purna Swaraj or Complete Independence call given by Nehru and the Indian National Congress in 1930s?

To suppress JP movement, Indira Gandhi got arrested more than one lakh people during the first 19 months of the emergency. But can it be compared to lakhs courting arrest during the 1942 quit India movement?

In May 1973, there was a mutiny by the Provincial Armed Constabulary or PAC in Uttar Pradesh. Army was sent in to discipline the force resulting in the death of 35 PAC constables and soldiers. But can it be compared to the Mutiny of 1857 when thousands of valiant Indian soldiers laid down their lives?

These... and many more such questions will be asked from Mulayam and his socialist brigade -- who for some votes are hell bent in drawing a comparison between 1947 and 1975.