The Emergency (India)

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Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmedproclaim a state of national
emergency from 25 June 1975 to 21 March 1977

In India, "the Emergency" refers to a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352(1) of the Constitution because of the
prevailing "internal disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from 25 June 1975 until its
withdrawal on 21 March 1977. The order bestowed upon the Prime Minister the authority to rule
by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed. For much of the
Emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored.
Several other human rights violations were reported from the time, including a forced mass-
sterilisation campaign spearheaded by Sanjay Gandhi, the Prime Minister's son. The Emergency
is one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history.[1]Documents that have
surfaced over the past few years indicate that Indira Gandhi had planned to impose the
emergency only temporarily for some time till the violence that was erupting in the country had
subsided.[2]

Contents
[hide]

1Prelude
o 1.1Rise of Indira Gandhi
o 1.2Increasing government control of the judiciary
o 1.3Political and civic unrest
o 1.4Raj Narain verdict
2Proclamation of the Emergency
3Administration
o 3.1Arrests
o 3.2Laws, human rights and elections
o 3.3Forced sterilization
o 3.4Criticism against the Government
4Resistance movements
o 4.1The role of RSS
o 4.2Sikh opposition
5Elections of 1977
6The tribunal
7Legacy
 8In culture
o 8.1Literature
o 8.2Film
9See also
10References
11Sources
12Further reading
13External links

Prelude[edit]
Rise of Indira Gandhi[edit]
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"Indira is India, India is Indira."
Congress president D. K. Barooah, c. 1974[3]

Between 1967 and 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to obtain near-absolute control over
the government and the Indian National Congress party, as well as a huge majority in
Parliament. The first was achieved by concentrating the central government's power within
the Prime Minister's Secretariat, rather than the Cabinet, whose elected members she saw as a
threat and distrusted. For this she relied on her principal secretary, P. N. Haksar, a central figure
in Indira's inner circle of advisors. Further, Haksar promoted the idea of a "committed
bureaucracy" that required hitherto-impartial government officials to be "committed" to ideology of
the ruling party of the day.
Within the Congress, Indira ruthlessly outmanoeuvred her rivals, forcing the party to split in
1969into the Congress (O) (comprising the old-guard known as the "Syndicate") and her
Congress (R). A majority of the All-India Congress Committee and Congress MPs sided with the
prime minister. Indira's party was of a different breed from the Congress of old, which had been a
robust institution with traditions of internal democracy. In the Congress (R), on the other hand,
members quickly realised that their progress within the ranks depended solely on their loyalty to
Indira Gandhi and her family, and ostentatious displays of sycophancy became routine. In the
coming years, Indira's influence was such that she could install hand-picked loyalists as chief
ministers of states, rather than their being elected by the Congress legislative party.
Indira's ascent was backed by her charismatic appeal among the masses that was aided by her
government's near-radical leftward turns. These include the July 1969 nationalisation of several
major banks and the September 1970 abolition of the privy purse; these were often done
suddenly, via ordinance, to the universal shock of her opponents. Subsequently, unlike the
Syndicate and other opponents, Indira was seen as "standing for socialism in economics and
secularism in matters of religion, as being pro-poor and for the development of the nation as a
whole."[4] The prime minister was especially adored by the disadvantaged sectionsthe poor,
Dalits, women and minorities.[citation needed] For them, she was their Indira Amma, a personification of
Mother India.[citation needed]
In the 1971 general elections, the people rallied behind Indira's populist slogan of Garibi
Hatao! (get rid of poverty!) to award her a huge majority (352 seats out of 518). "By the margin of
its victory," historian Ramachandra Guha later wrote, Congress (R) came to be known as the real
Congress, "requiring no qualifying suffix."[4] In December 1971, under her proactive war
leadership, India routed arch-enemy Pakistan in a war that led to the independence of
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. Awarded the Bharat Ratna the next month, she was at her
greatest peak; for her biographer Inder Malhotra, "The Economist's description of her as the
'Empress of India' seemed apt." Even opposition leaders, who routinely accused her of being a
dictator and of fostering a personality cult, referred to her as Durga, a Hindu goddess.[5][6][7]
Increasing government control of the judiciary[edit]
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In the Golaknath case, the Supreme Court said that the Constitution could not be amended
by Parliament if the changes affect basic issues such as fundamental rights. To nullify this
judgement, Parliament dominated by the Indira Gandhi Congress, passed the 24th
Amendment in 1971. Similarly, after the government lost a Supreme Court case for withdrawing
the privy purse given to erstwhile princes, Parliament passed the 26th Amendment. This gave
constitutional validity to the government's abolition of the privy purse and nullified the Supreme
Court's order.
This judiciaryexecutive battle would continue in the landmark Kesavananda Bharati case, where
the 24th Amendment was called into question. With a wafer-thin majority of 7 to 6, the bench of
the Supreme Court restricted Parliament's amendment power by stating it could not be used to
alter the "basic structure" of the Constitution. Subsequently, Prime Minister Gandhi made A. N.
Raythe senior most judge amongst those in the minority in Kesavananda BharatiChief
Justice of India. Ray superseded three judges more senior to himJ. M. Shelat, K.S. Hegde and
Groverall members of the majority in Kesavananda Bharati. Indira Gandhi's tendency to control
the judiciary met with severe criticism, both from the press and political opponents such
as Jayaprakash Narayan ("JP").
Political and civic unrest[edit]
During 197375, political unrest against the Indira Gandhi government increased across the
country. (This led some Congress party leaders to demand for a move towards a presidential
system, with a more powerful directly elected executive.) The most significant of the initial such
movement was the Nav Nirman movement in Gujarat, between December 1973 and March
1974. Student unrest against the state's education minister ultimately forced the central
government to dissolve the state legislature, leading to the resignation of the chief
minister, Chimanbhai Patel, and the imposition of President's rule. After the re-elections in June
1975, Gandhi's party was defeated by the Janata alliance, formed by parties opposed to the
ruling Congress party. Meanwhile there were assassination attempts on public leaders as well as
the assassination of the railway minister L.N.Mishra by a bomb. All of these indicated a growing
law and order problem in the entire country, which Mrs. Gandhi's advisors warned her of for
months.
In MarchApril 1974, a student agitation by the Bihar Chatra Sangharsh Samiti received the
support of Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, referred to as JP, against the Bihar
government. In April 1974, in Patna, JP called for "total revolution," asking students, peasants,
and labour organisations to non-violently transform Indian society. He also demanded the
dissolution of the state government, but this was not accepted by Centre. A month later, the
railway-employees union, the largest union in the country, went on a nationwide railways strike.
This strike was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government, which arrested thousands
of employees and drove their families out of their quarters.[8]
Even within parliament, the government faced much criticism. Ever since she took charge as
Prime Minister in 1966, Indira Gandhi's government had to face ten no-confidence motions in
the Lok Sabha.[9]
Raj Narain verdict[edit]
See also: State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain
Raj Narain, who had been defeated in the 1971 parliamentary election by Indira Gandhi, lodged
cases of election fraud and use of state machinery for election purposes against her in
the Allahabad High Court. Shanti Bhushan fought the case for Narain. Indira Gandhi was also
cross-examined in the High Court which was the first such instance for an Indian Prime
Minister.[10]
On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court found the prime
minister guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign. The
court declared her election null and void and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. The
court also banned her from contesting any election for an additional six years. Serious charges
such as bribing voters and election malpractices were dropped and she was held responsible for
misusing government machinery, and found guilty on charges such as using the state police to
build a dais, availing the services of a government officer, Yashpal Kapoor, during the elections
before he had resigned from his position, and use of electricity from the state electricity
department.[11]
Because the court unseated her on comparatively frivolous charges, while she was acquitted on
more serious charges, The Times described it as "firing the Prime Minister for a traffic ticket".
However, strikes in trade, student and government unions swept across the country. Led by JP,
Narain, Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Morarji Desai, protestors flooded the streets of Delhi close
to the Parliament building and the Prime Minister's residence. The persistent efforts of Narain
were praised worldwide as it took over four years for Justice Sinha to pass judgement against the
prime minister.[12]
Indira Gandhi challenged the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court. Justice V. R. Krishna
Iyer, on 24 June 1975, upheld the High Court judgement and ordered all privileges Gandhi
received as an MP be stopped, and that she be debarred from voting. However, she was allowed
to continue as Prime Minister. The next day, JP organised a large rally in Delhi, where he said
that a police officer must reject the orders of government if the order is immoral and unethical as
this was Mahatma Gandhi's motto during the freedom struggle. Such a statement was taken as a
sign of inciting rebellion in the country. Later that day, Indira Gandhi requested a compliant
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to issue a proclamation of a state of emergency. Within three
hours, the electricity to all major newspapers was cut and the political opposition arrested. The
proposal was sent without discussion with the Union Cabinet, who only learnt of it and ratified it
the next morning.[13][14]

Proclamation of the Emergency[edit]

The Government cited threats to national security, as a war with Pakistan had recently been
concluded. Due to the war and additional challenges of drought and the 1973 oil crisis, the
economy was in bad shape. The Government claimed that the strikes and protests had
paralysed the government and hurt the economy of the country greatly. In the face of massive
political opposition, desertion and disorder across the country and the party, Gandhi stuck to the
advice of a few loyalists and her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, whose own power had grown
considerably over the last few years to become an "extra-constitutional authority". Siddhartha
Shankar Ray, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, proposed to the prime minister to impose an
"internal emergency". He drafted a letter for the President to issue the proclamation on the basis
of information Indira had received that "there is an imminent danger to the security of India being
threatened by internal disturbances". He showed how democratic freedom could be suspended
while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution.[15]
After a quick question regarding a procedural matter, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declared
a state of internal emergency upon the prime minister's advice on the night of 25 June 1975, just
a few minutes before the clock struck midnight.
As the constitution requires, Mrs. Gandhi advised and President Ahmed approved the
continuation of Emergency over every six-month period until her decision to hold elections in
1977.

Administration[edit]
Indira Gandhi devised a '20-point' economic programme to increase agricultural and industrial
production, improve public services and fight poverty and illiteracy, through "the discipline of the
graveyard".[16] It was famously said that during the Emergency trains would run on time,
employees would still be able to attend to their duties and work could still be carried out in
government offices.[citation needed] In addition to the official twenty points, Sanjay Gandhi declared his
own five-point programme promoting literacy, family planning, tree planting, the eradication of
casteism and the abolition of dowry. Later during the Emergency, the two projects merged into a
twenty-five point programme.[17]
Arrests[edit]
Invoking article 352 of the Indian Constitution, Gandhi granted herself extraordinary powers and
launched a massive crackdown on civil liberties and political opposition. The Government used
police forces across the country to place thousands of protestors and strike leaders under
preventive detention. Vijayaraje Scindia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Raj Narain, Morarji
Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Arun
Jaitley,[18] Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Gayatri Devi, the dowager queen of Jaipur[19] and other
protest leaders were immediately arrested. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh(RSS) and Jamaat-e-Islami along with some political parties were banned. Numerous
Communist leaders were arrested along with many others involved with their party. Congress
leaders who dissented the Emergency declaration and amendment to the constitution such
as Mohan Dharia and Chandra Shekhar resigned their government and party positions and were
arrested and placed under detention,[20][21]
In Tamil Nadu, the M. Karunanidhi government was dissolved and the leaders of the DMK were
incarcerated. In particular, Karunanidhi's son M. K. Stalin, was arrested under the Maintenance
of Internal Security Act. At least nine High Courts pronounced that even after the declaration of
an emergency, a person could challenge his detention. The Supreme Court, now under the Indira
Gandhi-appointed Chief Justice A. N. Ray, over-ruled all of them, upholding the state's plea for
power to detain a person without the necessity of informing him of the reasons/grounds of his
arrest, or to suspend his personal liberties, or to deprive him of his right to life, in an absolute
manner (the habeas corpus case').[22][23] Many political workers who were not arrested in the first
wave, went 'underground' continuing organising protests.[24]
Laws, human rights and elections[edit]
Elections for the Parliament and state governments were postponed. Gandhi and her
parliamentary majorities could rewrite the nation's laws, since her Congress party had the
required mandate to do so a two-thirds majority in the Parliament. And when she felt the
existing laws were 'too slow', she got the President to issue 'Ordinances' a law-making power
in times of urgency, invoked sparingly completely bypassing the Parliament, allowing her
to rule by decree. Also, she had little trouble amending the Constitution that exonerated her from
any culpability in her election-fraud case, imposing President's Rule in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,
where anti-Indira parties ruled (state legislatures were thereby dissolved and suspended
indefinitely), and jailing thousands of opponents. The 42nd Amendment, which brought about
extensive changes to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, is one of the lasting legacies of the
Emergency. In the conclusion of his Making of India's Constitution, Justice Khanna writes:
If the Indian constitution is our heritage bequeathed to us by our founding fathers, no less are we,
the people of India, the trustees and custodians of the values which pulsate within its provisions!
A constitution is not a parchment of paper, it is a way of life and has to be lived up to. Eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty and in the final analysis, its only keepers are the people. Imbecility
of men, history teaches us, always invites the impudence of power."[25]

A fallout of the Emergency era was the Supreme Court laid down that, although the
Constitution is amenable to amendments (as abused by Indira Gandhi), changes that tinker
with its basic structure[26] cannot be made by the Parliament. (see Kesavananda Bharati v. State
of Kerala)[27]
In the Rajan case, P. Rajan of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was arrested by the
police in Kerala on 1 March 1976,[28] tortured in custody until he died and then his body was
disposed of and was never recovered. The facts of this incident came out owing to a habeas
corpus suit filed in the Kerala High Court.[29][30]
Forced sterilization[edit]
Main article: Compulsory sterilization India
In September 1976, Sanjay Gandhi initiated a widespread compulsory sterilisation program to
limit population growth. The exact extent of Sanjay Gandhi's role in the implementation of the
program is somewhat disputed, with some writers[31][32][33][34] holding Gandhi directly responsible for
his authoritarianism, and other writers[35] blaming the officials who implemented the program
rather than Gandhi himself. Rukhsana Sultana was a socialite known for being one of Sanjay
Gandhi's close associates and she gained a lot of notoriety in leading Sanjay Gandhi's
sterilization campaign in Muslim areas of old Delhi.[36][37][38] The campaign primarily involved getting
males to undergo vasectomy. Quotas were set up that enthusiastic supporters and government
officials worked hard to achieve. There were allegations of coercion of unwilling candidates
too.[39] In 19761977, the program counted 8.3 million sterilizations, most of them forced, up from
2.7 million the previous year. The bad publicity led every government since 1977 to stress that
family planning is an entirely voluntary program.[40]

Kartar, a cobbler, was taken to a Block Development Officer (BDO) by six policemen, where
he was asked how many children he had. He was forcefully taken for sterilization in a jeep.
En route, the police forced a man on the bicycle into the jeep because he was not sterilized.
Kartar had an infection and pain because of the procedure and could not work for months.[41]
Shahu Ghalake, a peasant from Barsi in Maharashtra, was taken for sterilization. After
mentioning the fact that he was already sterilized, he was beaten. He was sterilized for the
second time.[41]
Hawa Singh, a young widower, from Pipli was taken from the bus against his will and
sterilized. The infection took his life.[41]
Harijan, a 70-year-old with no teeth and bad eyesight, was sterilized forcefully.[41]
Uttawar, a village 80 kilometers south of Delhi, woke up to the police loudspeakers at 3 a.m.
Police gathered 400 men at the bus stop. In the process of finding more villagers, police
broke into homes and looted. Total of 800 forced sterilizations were done.[41]
In Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on 18 October 1976, police picked up 17 people, nine
Hindu and eight Muslims out of which two were over 75 and two under 18. Hundreds of
Hindus and Muslims surrounded the police station demanding to free captives. The police
refused to release them and used tear gas shells. Crowd retaliated by throwing stones and to
control the situation, the police fired on the crowd. 30 people died as a result.[41]
Criticism against the Government[edit]
Criticism and accusations of the Emergency-era may be grouped as:

Detention of people by police without charge or notification of families

Abuse and torture of detainees and political prisoners
Use of public and private media institutions, like the national television network Doordarshan,
for government propaganda
During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi asked the popular singer Kishore Kumar to sing for a
Congress party rally in Bombay, but he refused.[42] As a result, Information and broadcasting
minister Vidya Charan Shuklaput an unofficial ban on playing Kishore Kumar songs on state
broadcasters All India Radio and Doordarshan from 4 May 1976 till the end of
Emergency.[43][44]
Forced sterilisation.
Destruction of the slum and low-income housing in the Turkmen Gate and Jama Masjid area
of old Delhi.
Large-scale and illegal enactment of laws (including modifications to the Constitution).
The Emergency years were the biggest challenge to India's commitment to democracy, which
proved vulnerable to the manipulation of powerful leaders and hegemonic Parliamentary
majorities.

Resistance movements[edit]
The role of RSS[edit]
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which was seen close to opposition leaders, and with its large
organisational base was seen as having the potential of organising protests against the
Government, was also banned.[45]Police clamped down on the organisation and thousands of its
workers were imprisoned.[46] The RSS defied the ban and thousands participated in Satyagraha
(peaceful protests) against the ban and against the curtailment of fundamental rights. Later,
when there was no letup, the volunteers of the RSS formed underground movements for the
restoration of democracy. Literature that was censored in the media was clandestinely published
and distributed on a large scale and funds were collected for the movement. Networks were
established between leaders of different political parties in the jail and outside for the co-
ordination of the movement.[47]
The Economist described the movement as "the only non-left revolutionary force in the world". It
said that the movement was "dominated by tens of thousands of RSS cadres, though more and
more young recruits are coming". Talking about its objectives it said "its platform at the moment
has only one plank: to bring democracy back to India".[48]
However, the claims of RSS leaders have been contested by many political observers like
political scientist Professor DL Sheth, who is Honorary Senior Fellow of the Centre for the Study
of Developing Societies. He says both the RSS and its political party the BJP are mythicising its
anti-Emergency role. He goes on to say these organisations have never borne the brunt Indira's
oppressive regime. The political scientist sees a plot behind its celebration of its role in anti-
Emergency movement which hides their past. He argues that the RSS projects itself as the
champion of anti-Emergency struggle because its credentials as a movement which stood for
independence from Britain are questionable. [1] In an article which appeared in the Hindu daily in
2000, Dr. Subrahmanian Swamy, who is currently an MP in the Upper House of Indian
Parliament, representing the BJP, and who is known to have waged a war against Indira's
autocracy, had alleged that several Sangh leaders were hobnobbing with Indira. He added that
the Sangh, at the instance of Vajpayee, even went farther to sign a peace accord with Indira
Gandhi.[2]
Sikh opposition[edit]
With the leaders of all opposition parties and other outspoken critics of her government arrested
and behind bars, the entire country was in a state of shock. Shortly after the declaration of the
Emergency, the Sikh leadership convened meetings in Amritsar where they resolved to oppose
the "fascist tendency of the Congress".[49] The first mass protest in the country, known as the
"Campaign to Save Democracy" was organised by the Akali Dal and launched in Amritsar, 9
July. A statement to the press recalled the historic Sikh struggle for freedom under the Mughals,
then under the British, and voiced concern that what had been fought for and achieved was
being lost. The police were out in force for the demonstration and arrested the protestors,
including the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC)
leaders.
"The question before us is not whether Indira Gandhi should continue to be prime
minister or not. The point is whether democracy in this country is to survive or not."[50]
According to Amnesty International, 140,000 people had been arrested without trial during
the twenty months of Gandhi's Emergency. Jasjit Singh Grewal estimates that 40,000 of
them came from India's two percent Sikh minority.[51]

Elections of 1977[edit]
Main article: Indian general election, 1977
On 18 January 1977, Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released all political
prisoners though the Emergency officially ended on 23 March 1977. The opposition Janata
movement's campaign warned Indians that the elections might be their last chance to
choose between "democracy and dictatorship."
In the Lok Sabha elections, held in March, Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay both lost their Lok Sabha
seats, as did all the Congress Candidates in Northern states such as Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh. Many Congress Party loyalists deserted Mrs. Gandhi. The Congress was reduced
to just 153 seats, 92 of which were from four of the southern states. The Janata Party's 298
seats and its allies' 47 seats (of a total 542) gave it a massive majority. Morarji
Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.
The elections in the largest state Uttar Pradesh, historically a Congress stronghold, turned
against Gandhi and her party failed to win a single seat in the state. Dhanagare says the
structural reasons behind the discontent against the Government included the emergence of
a strong and united opposition, disunity and weariness inside Congress, an effective
underground opposition, and the ineffectiveness of Gandhi's control of the mass media,
which had lost much credibility. The structural factors allowed voters to express their
grievances, notably their resentment of the emergency and its authoritarian and repressive
policies. One grievance often mentioned as the 'nasbandi' (vasectomy) campaign in rural
areas. The middle classes also emphasised the curbing of freedom throughout the state and
India.[52] Meanwhile, Congress hit an all-time low in West Bengal because of the poor
discipline and factionalism among Congress activists as well as the numerous defections
that weakened the party.[53] Opponents emphasised the issues of corruption in Congress and
appealed to a deep desire by the voters for fresh leadership.[54]

The tribunal[edit]
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The efforts of the Janata administration to get government officials and Congress politicians
tried for Emergency-era abuses and crimes were largely unsuccessful due to a disorganised,
over-complex and politically motivated process of litigation. The Thirty-eighth Amendment of
the Constitution of India, put in place shortly after the outset of the Emergency and which
among other things prohibited judicial reviews of states of emergencies and actions taken
during them, also likely played a role in this lack of success. Although special tribunals were
organised and scores of senior Congress Party and government officials arrested and
charged, including Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, police were unable to submit sufficient
evidence for most cases, and only a few low-level officials were convicted of any abuses.
The people lost interest in the hearings owing to their continuous fumbling and complex
nature, and the economic and social needs of the country grew more important to them.[citation
needed]