![Indira Gandhi 1977](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Indira_Gandhi_1977.jpg)
The Emergency in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
had a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
declared across the country. Officially issued by President
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of India from 1974 to 1977.
Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the I ...
under Article 352 of the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
because of prevailing "internal disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from 25 June 1975 to its withdrawal on 21 March 1977. The order bestowed upon the Prime Minister the authority to
rule by decree
Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group. It allows the ruler to make or change laws without legislative approval. While intended to allow rapid responses to a crisis, rule ...
, allowing elections to be cancelled and
civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
to be suspended. For much of the Emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was
censored
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
. Several other
human rights violations
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
were reported from the time, including a mass campaign for vasectomy spearheaded by her son
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
. The Emergency is one of the most controversial periods of
Indian history since its independence.
The final decision to impose an emergency was proposed by Indira Gandhi, agreed upon by the
President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
, and ratified by the Cabinet and the Parliament from July to August 1975. It was based on the rationale that there were imminent internal and external threats to the Indian state.
Prelude
Rise of Indira Gandhi
Between 1967 and 1971, Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
came to obtain near-absolute control over the government and the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
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
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
, 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 the ideology of the ruling party of the day.
Within the Congress, Indira ruthlessly outmaneuvered her rivals, forcing the party to split in 1969—into the
Congress (O)
The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi.
On 12 November 1969, the Prime Ministe ...
(comprising the old-guard known as the "Syndicate") and her
Congress (R)
Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) was created in 1969; it was created and led by Indira Gandhi. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress or Syndicate.
The letter 'R' s ...
. A majority of the
All-India Congress Committee
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...
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 realized 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 included the July 1969 nationalization of several major banks and the September 1970 abolition of the
privy purse
The Privy Purse is the British Sovereign's private income, mostly from the Duchy of Lancaster. This amounted to £20.1 million in net income for the year to 31 March 2018.
Overview
The Duchy is a landed estate of approximately 46,000 acres (200 ...
; these changes were often done suddenly, via ordinance, to the shock of her opponents. She had strong support in the disadvantaged sections—the poor,
Dalits
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...
, women and minorities. 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."
[Guha, p. 439]
In the
1971 general elections, the people rallied behind Indira's populist slogan of ''
Garibi Hatao
Garibi Hatao Desh Bachao ("Remove poverty, rescue the country") was the theme and slogan of Indira Gandhi's 1971 election campaign. The slogan and the proposed anti-poverty programs that came with it were designed to give Gandhi an independent ...
!'' (abolish poverty!) to award her a huge majority (352 seats out of 518). "By the margin of its victory," historian
Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...
later wrote, Congress (R) came to be known as the real Congress, "requiring no qualifying suffix."
In December 1971, under her proactive war leadership, India routed arch-enemy Pakistan in a war that led to the independence of
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, formerly
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
. Awarded the
Bharat Ratna
The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest orde ...
the next month, she was at her greatest peak; for her biographer
Inder Malhotra
Inder Malhotra (1 February 1930 – 11 June 2016) was an Indian journalist, editor and author.
Career
Malhotra was the resident editor of '' The Statesman'' in New Delhi from 1965 to 1971. He was the India correspondent for ''The Guardian'' from ...
, "''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
''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
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
, referred to her as ''
Durga
Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars.
Durga's legend centres around co ...
'', a Hindu goddess.
Increasing government control of the judiciary
![Jayaprakash Narayan 2001 stamp of India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Jayaprakash_Narayan_2001_stamp_of_India.jpg)
In 1967's
'' Golaknath'' case, the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
said that the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
could not be amended by
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
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
The Privy Purse is the British Sovereign's private income, mostly from the Duchy of Lancaster. This amounted to £20.1 million in net income for the year to 31 March 2018.
Overview
The Duchy is a landed estate of approximately 46,000 acres (200 ...
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 judiciary–executive 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
The basic structure doctrine is a common law legal doctrine that the constitution of a sovereign state has certain characteristics that cannot be erased by its legislature. The doctrine is recognised in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, and ...
" of the Constitution. Subsequently, Prime Minister Gandhi made
A. N. Ray
Ajit Nath Ray (29 January 1912 – 25 December 2009) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India from 25 April 1973 till his retirement on 28 January 1977.
Ray was the lone dissenter among the eleven Supreme Court judges that examin ...
—the senior-most judge amongst those in the minority in ''Kesavananda Bharati''—
Chief Justice of India
The chief justice of India (IAST: ) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, in consultation w ...
. Ray superseded three judges more senior to him—
J. M. Shelat,
K. S. Hegde
Kowdoor Sadananda Hegde (11 June 1909 – 24 May 1990) was an Indian jurist and politician who served as a judge in the Supreme Court of India and later as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Hegde founded the Nitte Education Trust. He is the father o ...
and Grover—all 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
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...
("JP").
Political unrest
This led some Congress party leaders to demand a move towards a
presidential system
A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...
emergency declaration with a more powerful directly elected executive. The most significant of the initial such movement was the
Nav Nirman
''Navnirman Andolan'' (Re-invention or Re-construction movement) was a socio-political movement in 1974 in Gujarat by students and middle-class people against economic crisis and corruption in public life. It is the only successful agitation in t ...
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
Chimanbhai Patel (3 June 1929 – 17 February 1994) was an Indian politician associated with Indian National Congress and Janata Dal, and a former Chief Minister of Gujarat state in India representing both those parties at various times. Patel ...
, and the imposition of
President's rule
In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...
. Meanwhile, there were assassination attempts on public leaders as well as the assassination of the railway minister
Lalit Narayan Mishra
Lalit Narayan Mishra (2 February 1923 – 3 January 1975) was an Indian politician who served as Minister of Railways in the government of India from 1973 to 1975. He was brought into politics by the first Chief Minister of Bihar, Krishna Sinh ...
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 March–April 1974, a student agitation by the Bihar Chatra Sangharsh Samiti received the support of
Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians.
Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...
socialist
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...
, referred to as ''JP'', against the Bihar government. In April 1974, in Patna, JP called for "total revolution," asking students, peasants, and
labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s to non-violently transform Indian society. He also demanded the dissolution of the state government, but this was not accepted by the center. A month later, the railway-employees union, the largest union in the country, went on a nationwide
railways
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
strike. This strike was led by the firebrand trade union leader George Fernandes who was the President of the All India Railwaymen's Federation. He was also the President of the Socialist Party. The strike was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government, which arrested thousands of employees and drove their families out of their quarters.
''Raj Narain'' verdict
Raj Narain
Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and imposition of ...
, 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
Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...
.
Shanti Bhushan
Shanti Bhushan (born 11 November 1925) is an Indian politician and lawyer. He served as the Law Minister of India holding office at the Ministry of Law and Justice from 1977 to 1979 in the Morarji Desai Ministry. He is a senior advocate of the ...
fought the case for Narain (Nani Palkhivala fought the case for Indira). Indira Gandhi was also cross-examined in the High Court which was the first such instance for an Indian Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi had to present herself for 5 hours in front of judge).
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
In law, void means of no legal effect. An action, document, or transaction which is void is of no legal effect whatsoever: an absolute nullity—the law treats it as if it had never existed or happened. The term void ''ab initio'', which means " ...
and unseated her from her seat in the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
. 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 herself of the services of a government officer,
Yashpal Kapoor
Yashpal Kapoor / Kapur (1929–1993) was a leader of Indian National Congress and a close aid of Indira Gandhi. Kapoor was member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 1972 to 1978. Indira Gandhi's election was declared null and void. ...
, during the elections before he had resigned from his position, and use of electricity from the state electricity department.
Because the court unseated her on comparatively frivolous charges, while she was acquitted on more serious charges, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' described it as "firing the Prime Minister for a traffic ticket". Her supporters organised mass pro-Indira demonstrations in the streets of Delhi close to 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.
Indira Gandhi challenged the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court. Justice
V. R. Krishna Iyer
Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and poli ...
, 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 pending the resolution of her appeal.
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...
and
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
called for daily anti-government protests. The next day, Jayaprakash Narayan 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
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
'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
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of India from 1974 to 1977.
Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the I ...
to proclaim a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
. 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.
Preventive Detention Laws
Before the emergency, the Indira Gandhi government passed draconian laws which would be used to arrest political opponents before and during emergency. One of these was the
Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), 1971, which was passed in May 1971 despite criticism from prominent opposition figures across partisan lines such as CPI(M)'s
Jyotirmoy Basu
Jyotirmoy Basu (18 December 1920 – 12 January 1982) was an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from the Diamond Harbour constituency of West Bengal in 1967,1971,1977 and 1980 as a membe ...
, Jana Sangh's
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...
, and the Anglo-Indian nominated MP
Frank Anthony
Frank Anthony (25 September 1908 – 3 December 1993) was a leader of the Anglo-Indian community in India, and was until his death their nominated representative in the Parliament of India except 6th and 9th Lok Sabha. He served as the presi ...
.
The Indira government also renewed the
Defence of India rules, which was withdrawn in 1967, Defence of India rules were given an expanded mandate 5 days into the emergency and renamed as Defence and Internal Security of India Rules. Another law,
Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) passed in December 1974, was also frequently used to target political opponents.
Proclamation of the Emergency
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 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
, the economy was in poor condition. 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
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
, whose own power had grown considerably over the last few years to become an "extra-constitutional authority".
Siddhartha Shankar Ray
Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Union Minister of Education (1 ...
, the
Chief Minister of West Bengal
The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...
, proposed to the prime minister to impose an "internal emergency". He drafted a letter for the President to issue the proclamation based on 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.
After resolving a procedural matter, President
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of India from 1974 to 1977.
Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the I ...
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 months until she decided to hold
elections in 1977. In 1976, Parliament voted to delay elections, something it could only do with the Constitution suspended by the Emergency.
Administration
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". In addition to the official twenty points, Sanjay Gandhi declared his 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.
Arrests
Invoking articles 352 and 356 of the
Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental r ...
, Indira Gandhi granted herself extraordinary powers and launched a massive crackdown on civil rights and political opposition. The Government used police forces across the country to place thousands of protestors and strike leaders under preventive detention.
Vijayaraje Scindia
Vijaya Raje Scindia (12 October 1919 – 25 January 2001), born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Ma ...
,
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...
,
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
,
Raj Narain
Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and imposition of ...
,
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
,
Charan Singh
Chaudhary Charan Singh (23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) served as the 5th Prime Minister of India between 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980. Historians and people alike frequently refer to him as the 'champion of India's peasants.'
Charan S ...
,
Jivatram Kripalani
Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (11 November 1888 – 19 March 1982), popularly known as Acharya Kripalani, was an Indian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress during the transfer of power in 1 ...
,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...
,
Lal Krishna Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
,
Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...
,
Jai Kishan Gupta
Jai or JAI may refer to:
Abbreviations and codes
* Jaipur International Airport (IATA: JAI), in Jaipur, India
* Jamna Auto Industries, an Indian automotive parts company
* Java Advanced Imaging, an API for the Java platform
* Jet Airways (ICAO: ...
Satyendra Narayan Sinha,
Gayatri Devi
Gayatri Devi (born as Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar; 23 May 1919 − 29 July 2009) was the third Maharani consort of Jaipur from 1940 to 1949 through her marriage to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. Following her husband's signature for th ...
, the dowager queen of Jaipur, and other protest leaders were immediately arrested. Organisations like the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
(RSS) and
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...
, along with some political parties, were banned.
CPI(M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...
leaders
V.S. Achuthanandan
Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan (born 20 October 1923) is an Indian Communist politician who was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011. At 82, he is the oldest person to have assumed the office. He served as the chairman of Adm ...
and
Jyotirmoy Basu
Jyotirmoy Basu (18 December 1920 – 12 January 1982) was an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from the Diamond Harbour constituency of West Bengal in 1967,1971,1977 and 1980 as a membe ...
were arrested along with many others involved with their party. Congress leaders who dissented against the Emergency declaration and amendment to the constitution, such as
Mohan Dharia
Mohan Dharia (14 February 1925 - 14 October 2013) was a Union minister, a lawyer and social worker. During his last days he stayed in Pune. Dharia was an environmentalist and ran a non-government organisation Vanarai. He was elected to the Lok S ...
and
Chandra Shekhar
Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...
, resigned their government and party positions and were thereafter arrested and placed under detention.
Members of regional opposition parties such as
DMK also found themselves arrested.
Most of these arrests happened under laws such as
MISA,
DISIR, and
COFEPOSA. During the emergency 34,988 people were arrested under
MISA, and 75,818 people were arrested under
DISIR. This included both political prisoners and ordinary criminals. Most states classified those arrested under MISA into multiple categories. For instance in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
they were classified into three categories- Class A, Class B, and Class C. Class A prisoners included prominent political leaders, members of parliament, and members of the legislative assembly. Class B prisoners included less prominent political prisoners. Class C included those detained for "economic offences" and other offences. Class A and B prisoners were treated better and received better amenities in prison than other categories of prisoners. Those arrested under
COFEPOSA and
DISR, depending on the state, found themselves detained with ordinary criminals, as Class C prisoners, or their own separate category.
Cases like the
Baroda dynamite case
Baroda dynamite case is the term used for the criminal case launched by the Indira Gandhi government in India during the Emergency against the opposition leader George Fernandes and 24 others.
The Central Bureau of Investigation charged Geor ...
and the
Rajan case
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
became exceptional examples of atrocities committed against civilians in independent India.
Laws, human rights and elections
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
Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group. It allows the ruler to make or change laws without legislative approval. While intended to allow rapid responses to a crisis, rule ...
. Also, she had little trouble amending the Constitution that exonerated her from any culpability in her election-fraud case, imposing
President's Rule
In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...
in
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
and
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, 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. The imbecility of men, history teaches us, always invites the impudence of power.
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'' cannot be made by the Parliament. (see ''
Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala
Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru & Ors. v. State of Kerala & Anr. (Writ Petition (Civil) 135 of 1970), also known as the Kesavananda Bharati judgement, was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India that outlined the basic structure doc ...
'')
In the
'' Rajan'' case, P. Rajan of the
Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was arrested by the police in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
on 1 March 1976, 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
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' suit filed in the
Kerala High Court
The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issu ...
.
Many cases where teens were arrested and imprisoned have come to light, one such example is of Dilip Sharma who aged 16 was arrested and imprisoned for over 11 months. He was released based on
Patna High Court
The Patna High Court is the High Court of the state of Bihar. It was established on 9 February 1916 and later affiliated under the Government of India Act 1915.
The court is based in Patna, the administrative capital of the state of Bihar, In ...
's judgment on 29 July 1976.
Economics
Christophe Jaffrelot
Christophe Jaffrelot (born 12 February 1964) is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the ''Centre d'études et de recherches ...
considers the economic policy of the emergency regime to be
corporatist
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
, five programs in the 20 point program were aimed at benefiting the middle classes and industrialists, these included- liberalizing investment procedures, introducing new schemes for workers' associations in the industry, implementing a national permit scheme for road transport, tax breaks to the middle class by exempting anyone earning under Rs. 8,000 from income taxes, and an austerity program to reduce public spending.
Trade Unions and Worker's Rights
The emergency regime cracked down on trade unionism, banned strikes, imposed wage freezes, and phased out wage bonuses.
The largest trade unions in the country at the time such as the Congress'
INTUC
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) is a national trade union in India. It was founded on 3 May 1947 and is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, ...
, CPI's
AITUC
The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federation in India. It is associated with the Communist Party of India. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AITUC had a membership of 14.2 milli ...
, and Socialist affiliated
HMS were made to comply with the new regime, while the CPI(M)'s
CITU continued its opposition for which it had 20 of its leaders arrested. State governments were asked to form bipartite councils composed of representatives of the workers and the management for firms having more than 500 employees, similar apex bipartite committees were formed by the Centre for major public sector industries, while a National Apex Board was set up for the private industries. These were meant to give a veneer of worker participation in decision making but were in reality stacked in favor of the management, and tasked with increasing "productivity" by cutting holidays (including Sundays), bonuses, agreeing to wage freeze, and allowing layoffs.
Worker demonstrations during the emergency were subject to heavy state repression, such as when the AITUC organized a one-day strike to protest the slashing of bonuses in January 1976, to which the state responded by arresting 30,000-40,000 workers. In another such instance, the 8,000 workers of the
Indian Telephone Industries
ITI Limited, earlier known as Indian Telephone Industries Limited, is a central public sector undertaking in India. It is under the ownership of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications , Government of India. It was founde ...
(a Bangalore-based state-owned company) took part in a peaceful sit-in protest in response to the management reneging its promise of a 20% bonus to just 8%, they found themselves lathi-charged by the police who also arrested a few hundred of them.
Coal miners were forced to work in abysmal conditions with irregular pay, collieries were made to run for all seven days a week, and complaints of workers and unions about the abysmal and dangerous working conditions were ignored and met with state repression. These terrible workplace conditions led to the
deadliest mining disaster in Indian history on 27 December 1975, at Chasnala coal mine near Dhanbad which claimed the lives of 375 miners due to more than 100 million gallons of water flooding the mine. This was the 2nd such accident that year, the previous incidents having claimed 288 lives.
Inflation and Price control
The emergency government enjoyed a degree of popular support due to lower prices of goods and services at least during 1975. This was due to many reasons such as
RBI's policy of putting in place a 6 percent ceiling on annual money supply growth months before the emergency, record monsoon in the year of 1975 leading to record harvest of foodgrains which led to food prices declining, increased import of grains, and reduced demand due to cutting of worker's wages and bonuses. In addition to this half of the
dearness allowance
The Dearness Allowance (DA) is a calculation on inflation and allowance paid to government employees (including public sector unit employees as public sector unit employees are also government employees) and pensioners in India, Bangladesh and Paki ...
of workers was withheld as part of the Wage Freeze act as compulsory deposits to combat inflation. However, these reduced prices only lasted till March 1976 when the prices of commodities started to go up again, on account of foodgrain production declining by 7.9%. Between 1 April and 6 October 1976 the wholesale price index rose by 10%, in which the price of rice rose by 8.3%, groundnut oil rose by 48%, while the prices of industrial raw materials as a group rose by 29.3%.
Tax Policy
The emergency regime exempted those earning between Rs 6,000-8,000 from taxation, provided tax breaks for those earning between Rs 8,000-15,000 in the range of Rs 45-264. There were only 3.8 million (38 lakh) taxpayers in the country at the time. Wealth taxes were also cut from 8% to 2.5% while the income taxes on those earning more than Rs 100,000 were reduced from 77% to 66%. This was expected to lower the government's revenue by Rs 3.08-3.25 billion. To compensate for this indirect taxes grew, the ratio of indirect taxes to direct taxes was at 5.31 in 1976. Despite this there was a loss in revenue of Rs 400 million (40 crores), to compensate for this the Indira Gandhi government decided to cut spending in education and social welfare.
Forced sterilisation
In September 1976,
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
initiated a widespread
compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, is a government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually done throug ...
program to limit population growth. The exact extent of Sanjay Gandhi's role in the implementation of the program is disputed, with some writers holding Gandhi directly responsible for his authoritarianism, and other writers blaming the officials who implemented the programme rather than Gandhi himself. It is clear that international pressure from the United States, United Nations, and World Bank played a role in the implementation of these population control measures.
Rukhsana Sultana
Rukhsana Sultana (born Meenu Bimbet) is an Indian socialite known for being one of Sanjay Gandhi's close associates during the state of Emergency in India between 1975 and 1977. During this period she became known for leading Sanjay Gandhi's ...
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.
The campaign primarily involved getting males to undergo
vasectomy
Vasectomy, or vasoligation, is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and ...
. Quotas were set up that enthusiastic supporters and government officials worked hard to achieve. There were allegations of coercion of unwilling candidates too. In 1976–1977, the program led to 8.3 million sterilizations, most of them forced, up from 2.7 million the previous year. The bad publicity led many 1977 governments to stress that family planning is entirely voluntary.
* 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.
* Shahu Ghalake, a peasant from Barsi in Maharashtra, was taken for sterilization. After mentioning that he was already sterilized, he was beaten. A sterilization procedure was undertaken on him for a second time.
* Hawa Singh, a young widower, from Pipli was taken from the bus against his will and sterilized. The ensuing infection took his life.
* Harijan, a 70-year-old with no teeth and bad eyesight, was sterilized forcefully.
* Ottawa, a village 80 kilometers south of Delhi, woke up to the police loudspeakers at 03:00. Police gathered 400 men at the bus stop. In the process of finding more villagers, police broke into homes and looted. A total of 800 forced sterilizations were done.
* In Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on 18 October 1976, police picked up 17 people, of which two were over 75 and two under 18. Hundreds of people surrounded the police station demanding they free captives. The police refused to release them and used tear gas shells. The crowd retaliated by throwing stones and to control the situation, the police fired on the crowd. 30 people died as a result.
Demolitions
Demolitions in Delhi
Delhi served as the epicenter of
Sanjay Gandhi's "urban renewal" program, aided in large part by
DDA vice president
Jagmohan Malhotra
Jagmohan Malhotra (25 September 1927 – 3 May 2021), known by the mononym Jagmohan, was an Indian civil servant and politician. After working with the Indian National Congress, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995. He served as Lieut ...
who himself had a desire to "beautify" the city. During the emergency Jagmohan emerged as the single most powerful person in the DDA, and went to extraordinary lengths to do the bidding of Sanjay Gandhi, as the
Shah commission
Shah Commission was a commission of inquiry appointed by Government of India in 1977 to inquire into all the excesses committed in the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77). It was headed by Justice J.C. Shah, a former chief Justice of India.
Background ...
notes-
"Shri Jagmohan during the emergency, became a law unto himself and went about doing the biddings of Shri Sanjay Gandhi without care or concern for the miseries of the people affected thereby"
In total, 700,000 people in Delhi were displaced due to the demolitions carried out in Delhi.
Demolitions outside Delhi
During the Emergency, various state governments also carried out demolitions to clear "encroachments", undertaken to please Sanjay Gandhi. In many of these cases, residents were given very short notices, state governments like those of Bihar and Haryana avoided giving official notices to the residents of "encroachments" to avoid a case in a civil court, instead, they notified them through public channels, or in the case of Haryana through drum beats, and in some cases gave no prior information. States passed various laws to aid them in this process such as Maharashtra Vacant Land Act 1975, Bihar Public Encroachment Act 1975, and Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code (Amendment) Act. These demolitions were often accompanied by the police to threaten the residents with arrest under
MISA or
DIR. In Maharashtra, Mumbai alone saw demolitions of 12,000 huts, while Pune saw demolitions of 1285 huts and 29 shops.
Criticism
Criticism and accusations from 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 prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s
* Use of public and private media institutions, like the national television network
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
, for government propaganda
* During the Emergency,
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
asked the popular singer
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music.
He ...
to sing for a Congress party rally in Bombay, but he refused. As a result, Information and broadcasting minister
Vidya Charan Shukla
Vidya Charan Shukla (2 August 1929 – 11 June 2013) was an Indian politician whose political career spanned six decades. He was predominantly a member of the Indian National Congress, but also had spells in Jan Morcha, Janata Dal, Samaj ...
put an unofficial ban on playing Kishore Kumar songs on state broadcasters
All India Radio
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All a ...
and
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
from 4 May 1976 till the end of Emergency.
* Forced sterilization.
* Destruction of the
slum
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
and low-income housing in the
Turkmen Gate and
Jama Masjid
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.*
*
*
*
*
*
*
...
area of
Old Delhi
Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. Th ...
.
* Large-scale and illegal enactment of new laws (including modifications to the Constitution).
Resistance movements
Democracy Bachao Morcha
Shortly after the declaration of the Emergency, the
Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
leadership convened meetings in
Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
where they resolved to oppose the "
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
tendency of the Congress". 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 independence 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
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...
and
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; "Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee") is an organization in India responsible for the management of Gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the union ...
(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.
They protested for two years fighting against policemen and curfew was declared in the entire Malwa region. During Emergency SGPC offices used to be flooded with Anti-Emergency activists from RSS and BJP who had taken shelter to escape the government. According to
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, 140,000 people had been arrested without trial during the twenty months of Gandhi's Emergency. Jasjit Singh Grewal estimates that 43,000 of them came from India's two per cent Sikh minority.
In the end it was due to Jathedar Santa Singh's challenge and threat of declaring war in January 1977 that made the Emergency end.
He had come to Delhi with around a thousand caravans armed with .303 Lee-Enfield Rifles and met Sanjay Gandhi where he was asked to surrender of fight the Indian Army.
That was when he replied, threatening armed revolt and the Emergency ended around a month afterwards.
RSS Resistance
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
, which was seen close to opposition leaders, was also banned. Police clamped down on the organisation and thousands of its workers were imprisoned.
The RSS defied the ban and thousands participated in Satyagraha (peaceful protests) against the ban and the curtailment of fundamental rights. 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 coordination of the movement.
The attitude of senior RSS leaders about the Emergency was divided: several opposed it staunchly, others apologised and were released, and several senior leaders, notably
Balasaheb Deoras Balasaheb may refer to:
*Balasaheb Deoras, also known as Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras (died 1996), third Sarsanghchalak of RSS
*Balasaheb Thackeray, also known as Bal Keshav Thackeray, founder and leader of Shivsena
*Balasaheb Vikhe Patil (1932–201 ...
sought an accommodation with Sanjay and Indira Gandhi.
Nanaji Deshmukh
Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh, better known as Nanaji Deshmukh (11 October 1916 – 27 February 2010), was a social reformer and politician from India. He worked in the fields of education, health, and rural self-reliance. He was posthumously aw ...
and
Madan Lal Khurana
Madan Lal Khurana (15 October 1936 – 27 October 2018) was an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1996. He also served as Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. He was the Union Minister of Parliamentary affairs and Touri ...
managed to escape the police and led the RSS resistance to the Emergency. As did
Subramanian Swamy
Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu na ...
and the current
Prime Minister of India
The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...
, who was in poor health, quickly reached an agreement with Indira Gandhi, and spent most of the Emergency under parole at his residence.
Zonal RSS leaders also authorized Eknath Ramakrishna Ranade to quietly enter into a dialogue with Indira Gandhi.
Indira Gandhi had helped Ranade, who had been second to Golwalkar in the RSS hierarchy, in numerous projects to commemorate Vivekananda. She had nominated Ranade to the governing council of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and the two used ICCR as a facade to conduct secret one-on-one negotiations.
Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...
, Student leader and head of the RSS affiliated ABVP (
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) () is a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
History
The ABVP, founded in 1948 with the initiative of the RSS ...
) in Delhi, was among the first to be arrested, and he spent the entire Emergency in jail. However, other ABVP leaders such as Balbir Punj and Prabhu Chawla pledged allegiance to Indira Gandhi's Twenty Point Programme and Sanjay Gandhi's Five Point Programme, in return for staying out of jail.
On 10 August 1976,
Subramanian Swamy
Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu na ...
walked into the parliament and when obituary references were concluding, Swamy raised a point of order that Democracy has also died and
Rajya Sabha Chairman
The vice president of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional ...
has not included it in recent list of deaths.
As a result, Swamy was expelled from parliament.
In November 1976, over 30 leaders of the RSS, led by Madhavrao Muley, Dattopant Thengadi, and Moropant Pingle, wrote to Indira Gandhi, promising support to the Emergency if all RSS workers were released from prison. Their 'Document of Surrender, to take effect from January 1977, was processed by H.Y. Sharada Prasad.
On his return from his meeting with Om Mehta, Vajpayee ordered the cadres of the ABVP to apologise unconditionally to Indira Gandhi. The ABVP students refused.
The RSS 'Document of Surrender, was also confirmed by
Subramanian Swamy
Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu na ...
in his article: “...I must add that not all in the RSS were in a surrender mode...But a tearful Muley told me in early November 1976 and I had better escape abroad again since the RSS had finalized the Document of Surrender to be signed in end of January 1977, and that on Mr. Vajpayee's insistence I would be sacrificed to appease an irate Indira and a fulminating Sanjay....”.
The role of CPI(M)
Members of
CPI(M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...
were identified and arrested all over India. Raids were conducted in houses suspected to be sympathetic of
CPI(M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...
or the opposition to the emergency.
Those jailed during the Emergency include the current general secretary of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...
,
Sitaram Yechury
Sitaram Yechury (born 12 August 1952) is an Indian marxist politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the largest communist party in India.
Ea ...
, and his predecessor,
Prakash Karat
Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is an Indian Communist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015.
Education and early career
Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on 7 Februar ...
. Both were then leaders of the Students Federation of India, the party's student wing.
Other Communist Party of India (Marxist) members to be jailed included the current
Chief Minister of Kerala
The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...
Pinarayi Vijayan
Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian Communist politician who is the current Chief Minister of Kerala, serving since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he is the longest-serving sec ...
, then a young MLA. He was taken into custody during the
Emergency
An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
and subjected to third-degree methods. On his release, Pinarayi reached the Assembly and made an impassionate speech holding up the blood-stained shirt he wore when in police custody, causing serious embarrassment to the then
C. Achutha Menon
Chelat Achutha Menon (13 January 1913 – 16 August 1991) was the Chief Minister of Kerala state for two terms. The first term was from 1 November 1969 to 1 August 1970 and the second 4 October 1970 to 25 March 1977. He was instrumental in ...
government.
Hundreds of Communists, whether from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), other Marxist parties, or the Naxalites, were arrested during the Emergency. Some were tortured or, as in the case of the Kerala student P Rajan, killed.
Elections of 1977
On 18 January 1977, Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released several opposition leaders; however, many others remained in prison even after she left office, despite the Emergency officially ending on 21 March 1977. The opposition Janata movement's campaign warned Indians that the elections might be their last chance to choose between "democracy and dictatorship."
The
Indian general election of 1977 was held from 16–20 March, and resulted in a landslide victory for the Janata Party and the CFD, securing 298 seats in the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
whereas the ruling
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
only managed to win 154—a decrease of 198 as compared to the previous election.
Indira Gandhi herself was voted out of office in the
Rae Bareli
Raebareli is a city in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Raebareli district and a part of Lucknow Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Sai river, southeast of Lucknow. It possesses many a ...
constituency, losing to electoral rival
Raj Narain
Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and imposition of ...
by a margin of over 55,000 votes. INC candidates failed to win a single seat in the constituencies of several northern states, such as
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
and
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
.
The Janata Party's 298 seats were further augmented by an additional 47 seats won by its various political allies, thereby giving them a two-thirds supermajority.
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.
Voters in the electorally largest state of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, 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 the 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 was the 'nasbandi' (
vasectomy
Vasectomy, or vasoligation, is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and ...
) campaign in rural areas. The middle classes also emphasized the curbing of freedom throughout the state and India. Meanwhile, Congress hit an all-time low in
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
because of the poor discipline and factionalism among Congress activists as well as the numerous defections that weakened the party. Opponents emphasized the issues of corruption in Congress and appealed to a deep desire by the voters for fresh leadership.
The Tribunal
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 disorganized, over-complex, and politically motivated process of litigation. The
Thirty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India
The Thirty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Thirty-eighth Amendment) Act, 1975, made the declaration of " The Emergency" final and conclusive. In particular it codified and enlarged the State's ...
, put in place shortly after the outset of the Emergency and which among other things prohibited
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
s of states of emergencies and actions taken during them, also likely played a role in this lack of success. Although special tribunals were organized and scores of senior Congress Party and government officials arrested and charged, including Mrs. Gandhi and
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
, police were unable to submit sufficient evidence for most cases, and only a few low-level officials were convicted of any abuses.
Legacy
The Emergency lasted 21 months, and its legacy remains intensely controversial. A few days after the Emergency was imposed, the Bombay edition of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' carried an obituary that read
A few days later censorship was imposed on newspapers. The Delhi edition of the ''
Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
'' on 28 June
carried a blank editorial while the ''
Financial Express'' reproduced in large type
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
's poem "
Where the mind is without fear
"Where the mind is without fear" ( bn, চিত্ত যেথা ভয়শূন্য, ''Chitto Jetha Bhoyshunno'') is a poem written by 1913 Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence. It represents Tagore's vision of ...
".
However, the Emergency also received support from several sections. It was endorsed by social reformer
Vinoba Bhave
Vinayak Narahari, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Sanskrit teacher), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is cons ...
(who called it ''Anushasan Parva'', a time for discipline), industrialist
J. R. D. Tata
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (29 July 1904 – 29 November 1993) was a French-Indian aviator, industrialist, entrepreneur and chairman of Tata Group.
Born into the Tata family of India, he was the son of noted businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy ...
, writer
Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write ''Train to Pakistan'' in 1956 (made ...
, and Indira Gandhi's close friend and
Odisha Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy
Nandini Satpathy (9 June 1931 – 4 August 2006) was an Indian politician and author. She was the List of Chief Ministers of Odisha, Chief Minister of Odisha from June 1972 to December 1976.
Early life
Nandini Satpathy nee Panigrahi was bo ...
. However, Tata and Satpathy later regretted that they spoke in favour of the Emergency.
In the book ''JP Movement and the Emergency'', historian,
Bipan Chandra
Bipan Chandra (24 May 1928 – 30 August 2014) was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian ind ...
wrote, "
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
and his cronies like
Bansi Lal
Bansi Lal Legha (26 August 1927 – 28 March 2006) was an Indian independence activist, senior Congress leader, former Chief Minister of Haryana, former Defence Minister of India, and the architect of modern Haryana. Bansi Lal was part of the f ...
,
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...
at the time, were keen on postponing elections and prolonging the emergency by several years. In October – November 1976, an effort was made to change the basic
civil libertarian
Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporation, social nor ...
structure of the
Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental r ...
through the
42nd amendment to it. ... The most important changes were designed to strengthen the executive at the cost of the judiciary, and thus disturb the carefully crafted system of Constitutional
checks and balance between the three organs of the government."
In culture
Literature
* Writer
Rahi Masoom Raza
Rahi Masoom Reza (September 1927 – 15 March 1992) was an Indian Urdu and Hindi poet and writer and a Bollywood lyricist. He won the Filmfare Best Dialogue Award for the hit film ''Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki'' in 1979, followed by '' Mili'' and ...
criticized the Emergency through his novel ''Qatar bi Aarzoo''.
*
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...
portrays the Emergency allegorically in his ''
The Great Indian Novel
''The Great Indian Novel'' is a satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor, first published by Viking Press in 1989. It is a fictional work that takes the story of the ''Mahabharata'', the Indian epic, and recasts and resets it in the context of the I ...
'' (1989), describing it as "The Siege". He also authored a satirical play on the Emergency, ''Twenty-Two Months in the Life of a Dog'', that was published in his
'' The Five-Dollar Smile and Other Stories''.
* ''
A Fine Balance
''A Fine Balance'' is the second novel by Rohinton Mistry, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1995. Set in "an unidentified city" in India, initially in 1975 and later in 1984 during the turmoil of The Emergency, the book focuses on four ...
'' and ''
Such a Long Journey'' by
Rohinton Mistry
Rohinton Mistry (born 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian writer. He has been the recipient of many awards including the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2012. Each of his first three novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His ...
take place during the Emergency and highlight many of the abuses that occurred during that period, largely through the lens of India's small but culturally influential
Parsi
Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...
minority.
*
Rich Like Us
''Rich Like Us'' is a historical and political fiction novel by Nayantara Sahgal. Set in New Delhi during the chaotic time between 1932 and the mid-1970s, it follows the lives of two female protagonists, Rose and Sonali, and their fight to live ...
by
Nayantara Sahgal
Nayantara Sahgal (born 10 May 1927) is an Indian writer who writes in English. She is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi family, the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
She was awarded the 1986 S ...
is partly set during the Emergency and deals with themes such as political corruption and oppression in the context of the event.
*
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...
-winner ''
Midnight's Children
''Midnight's Children'' is a 1981 novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postcolo ...
'' by
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
, has the protagonist, Saleem Sinai, in India during the Emergency. His home in a low-income area, called the "magician's ghetto", is destroyed as part of the national beautification program. He is forcibly sterilized as part of the vasectomy program. The principal antagonist of the book is "the Widow" (a likeness that Indira Gandhi successfully sued Rushdie for). There was one line in the book that repeated an old Indian rumor that Indira Gandhi's son didn't like his mother because he suspected her of causing the death of his father. As this was a rumor; there was no substantiation to be found.
* ''
India: A Wounded Civilization'', a book by
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2018) was a Trinidadian-born British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker novels of alienati ...
is also oriented around The Emergency.
* ''The Plunge'', an English-language novel by Sanjeev Tare, is the story told by four youths studying at
Kalidas College in Nagpur. They tell the reader what they went through during those politically turbulent times.
* The
Malayalam-language
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
novel ''
Delhi Gadhakal'' (''Tales from Delhi'') by
M. Mukundan highlights many waves of abuse that occurred during the Emergency including forced sterilization of men and the destruction of houses and shops owned by Muslims in Turkmen Gate.
* ''Brutus, You!'', a book by Chanakya Sen, is based on the internal politics of
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...
, Delhi during the period of Emergency.
* ''Vasansi Jirnani'', a play by
Torit Mitra
Torit Mitra (born 4 September 1956) is a noted Indian Bengali playwright and theatre director. He co-founded avant-garde theatre company, Sansaptak in 1992 . He has written 80 plays, all staged by Sansaptak. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine ...
, is inspired by
Ariel Dorfman
Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman (born May 6, 1942) is an Argentine-Chilean-American novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American ...
's ''
Death and the Maiden'' and effects of the Emergency.
* The
Tamil-language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pud ...
novel ''Marukkozhunthu Mangai'' (''Girl with Fragrant
Chinese Mugwort Chinese mugwort is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
*''Artemisia argyi
''Artemisia argyi'', commonly known as silvery wormwood or Chinese mugwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant with a creeping rhizome. It is native to China, ...
'' ) by Ra. Su. Nallaperumal which is based on the history of
Pallavas
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahanas, Satavahana dynasty, with whom they ...
Dynasty and a popular uprising in
Kanchi
Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...
during 725 A.D. It explains how the widowed Queen and the Princess kill the freedom of the people. Most of the incidents described in the novel resemble the Emergency period. Even the name of the characters in the novel is similar to Mrs. Gandhi and her family.
* The
Malayalam-language
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
autobiographical diary by political activist
R. C. Unnithan, penned while the author was imprisoned as a political prisoner during the Emergency under MISA for sixteen months at Poojappura state prison in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, gives a personal account of his travails during the dark days of Indian democracy.
* The Tamil-language novel ''Karisal
'''' (''Black Soil'') by
Ponneelan deals with the socio-political changes during the period.
* The Tamil-language novel ''Ashwamedam'' b
Ramachandra Vaidyanathdeals with the political movements during the period.
* In the 2001 book ''
Life of Pi
''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, India who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He s ...
'' by Canadian author
Yann Martel
Yann Martel, (born 25 June 1963) is a Canadian author who wrote the Man Booker Prize–winning novel ''Life of Pi'', an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent ...
, Pi's father decides to sell his zoo and move his family to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
around the time of the Emergency.
* The graphic novel ''Delhi Calm'', by Vishwajyoti Ghosh, was published in 2010, that narrates the events of the Emergency.
Film
*
Gulzar
Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...
's ''
Aandhi
''Aandhi'' () is a 1975 Indian political drama film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen, and directed by Gulzar. At the time it was alleged that the film was based on the life of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her relationship wi ...
'' (1975) was banned, because the film was supposedly based on Indira Gandhi.
* Amrit Nahata's film ''
Kissa Kursi Ka
''Kissa Kursi Ka'' () is a 1977 Indian Hindi-language political satire film directed by Amrit Nahata, who was a member of Indian parliament and produced by Badri Prasad Joshi. The film was a satire on the politics of Indira Gandhi and her son ...
'' (1977) a bold spoof on the Emergency, where
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...
plays 'Janata' (the public) a mute, dumb protagonist, was subsequently banned and reportedly, all its prints were burned by
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
and his associates at his Maruti factory in Gurgaon.
[Farzand Ahmed]
"1978 – Kissa Kursi Ka: Celluloid chutzpah"
Cover Story, India Today (24 December 2009)
*
Yamagola
''Yamagola'' ( Havoc in Hell or The Great Havoc) is a 1977 Indian Telugu-language fantasy comedy film directed by T. Rama Rao who co-wrote the film with D. V. Narasa Raju. It stars N. T. Rama Rao and Jaya Prada, with music composed by Chak ...
a 1977 Telugu film (Hindi re-make
Lok Parlok
''Lok Parlok'' () is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language fantasy comedy film, produced by S. Venkataratnam under the Sree Pallavi Productions banner and directed by T. Rama Rao. The film stars Jeetendra and Jaya Prada, with music composed by Laxmikan ...
) spoofs the emergency issues.
*
I. S. Johar
Inder Sen Johar(16 February 1920 – 10 March 1984), better known as I. S. Johar, was an Indian actor, writer, producer and director, who excelled in comedic roles.
Early life
Inderjeet Singh Johar was born on 16th February, 1920 in Talagang ...
's 1978
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
Film
Nasbandi is sarcasm on the sterilisation drive of the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
, where each one of the characters is trying to find sterilization cases. The film was banned after its release due to its portrayal of the Indira Gandhi government.
* Although
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
's 1980 film ''
Hirak Rajar Deshe Hirak may refer to:
* King Hirak, a figure in Hirak Rajar Deshe
* 2019–2021 Algerian protests
* Hirak Rif, protest movement in Morocco
* Al-Hirak, Syria, town and sub-prefecture in Syria
* Popular Movement in Iraq
* Al-Hirak, Arabic name for the ...
'' was a children's comedy, it was a satire on the Emergency where the ruler forcefully mind washes the poor people.
* The 1985
Malayalam film
Malayalam cinema is an Indian cinema, Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ...
''
Yathra
''Yathra'' () is a 1985 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film written and directed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Mammootty and Shobana, while Adoor Bhasi, Thilakan and Alummoodan play supporting roles. The film tells a fictional stor ...
'' directed by
Balu Mahendra
Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
has the human rights violations by the police during ''the Emergency'' as its main plotline.
* 1988
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
film ''
Piravi
''Piravi'' ( en, italic=yes, The Birth) is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Shaji N. Karun. It stars Premji, Archana and Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. The film is based on the life of professor T. V. Eachara Warrier, whose son ...
'' is about a father searching for his son Rajan case, Rajan, who had been arrested by the police (and allegedly killed in custody).
* The 2005 Hindi film ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' is set against the backdrop of the Emergency. The film, directed by Sudhir Mishra, also tries to portray the growth of the Naxalite movement during the Emergency era. The movie tells the story of three youngsters in the 1970s when India was undergoing massive social and political changes.
* The 2012 Marathi film ''Shala (film), Shala'' discusses the issues related to the Emergency.
* ''Midnight's Children (film), Midnight's Children'', a 2012 adaptation of Rushdie's novel, created widespread controversy due to the negative portrayal of Indira Gandhi and other leaders. The film was not shown at the International Film Festival of India and was banned from further screening at the International Film Festival of Kerala where it was premièred in India.
* ''Indu Sarkar'', 2017 Hindi political thriller film about the emergency, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.
* ''21 Months of Hell'', documentary film about the torture methods performed by the police.
* ''Sarpatta Parambarai'', 2021 Tamil language sports film which is set in the backdrop of the Emergency and shows the arrest of DMK political members.
See also
*
Baroda dynamite case
Baroda dynamite case is the term used for the criminal case launched by the Indira Gandhi government in India during the Emergency against the opposition leader George Fernandes and 24 others.
The Central Bureau of Investigation charged Geor ...
*
Rajan case
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
*The Case That Shook India
References
Sources
* Atul Kohli. ''Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability''. Cambridge University Press. 1991. .
* Atul Kohli (ed.). ''The Success of India's Democracy''. Cambridge University Press. 2001 [2004]. .
* Ayesha Jalal. ''Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: a Comparative and Historical Perspective''. Cambridge University Press. 1995 [1996].
* B. G. Verghese. ''Warrior of the Fourth Estate: Ramnath Goenka of the Express''. Viking, Penguin India. 2005. .
*
Bipan Chandra
Bipan Chandra (24 May 1928 – 30 August 2014) was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian ind ...
et al. ''India Since Independence''. Penguin India. 2008 [2011 digital edition]. e-.
* Durga Das Basu. ''Introduction to the Constitution of India''. LexisNexis Butterworths. 1960 [20th edition, 2011 reprint]. .
*
Inder Malhotra
Inder Malhotra (1 February 1930 – 11 June 2016) was an Indian journalist, editor and author.
Career
Malhotra was the resident editor of '' The Statesman'' in New Delhi from 1965 to 1971. He was the India correspondent for ''The Guardian'' from ...
. ''Indira Gandhi: A Personal and Political Biography''. Hodder and Stoughton. 1989. .
* Mary C. Carras. ''Indira Gandhi: In the Crucible of Leadership''. Jaico Publishing House. 1979 [1980].
* Partha Chatterjee (scholar), Partha Chatterjee. ''Lineages of Political Society''. Orient Blackswan, Permanent Black. 2011. .
* Partha Chatterjee (scholar), Partha Chatterjee. ''Empire and Nation: Essential Writings, 1985–2005''. Orient Blackswan, Permanent Black. 2010. .
*
Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...
. ''India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy''. HarperCollins. 2008. .
* S. S. Gill. ''The Dynasty: A Political Biography of the Premier Ruling Family of Modern India''. HarperCollins. 1996. .
* Subhash C. Kashyap. ''Indian Constitution: Conflicts and Controversies''. Vitasta Publishing. 2010. .
*Mithi Mukherjee, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print
* T. V. Sathyamurthy. ''State and Nation in the Context of Social.00 Change''. Oxford University Press. 1994. .
Further reading
*Advani, L. K. (2002). A prisoner's scrapbook. New Delhi: Ocean Books.
* Anderson, Edward, and Patrick Clibbens. "'Smugglers of Truth': The Indian diaspora, Hindu nationalism, and the Emergency (1975–77)." ''Modern Asian Studies'' 52.5 (2018): 1729–1773.
* Kuldip Nayar. ''The Judgement: Inside Story of the Emergency in India''. 1977. Vikas Publishing House. .
* Chandra, Bipan. ''In the name of Democracy: JP movement and the Emergency'' (Penguin UK, 2017).
* P. N. Dhar. ''Indira Gandhi, the "Emergency", and Indian Democracy'' (2000), 424pp
* Jinks, Derek P. "The Anatomy of an Institutionalized Emergency: Preventive Detention and Personal Liberty in India." ''Michigan Journal of International Law'' 22 (2000): 311
online free* Klieman, Aaron S. "Indira's India: Democracy and Crisis Government", ''Political Science Quarterly'' (1981) 96#2 pp. 241–25
in JSTOR* Malkani, K. R. (1978). ''The midnight knock.'' New Delhi: Vikas Pub. House.
* Mathur, Om Prakash. ''Indira Gandhi and the emergency as viewed in the Indian novel'' (Sarup & Sons, 2004).
* Paul, Subin. "When India Was Indira" Indian Express's Coverage of the Emergency (1975–77)." ''Journalism History'' 42.4 (2017): 201-211.
* Plys, Kristin. ''Brewing Resistance: Indian Coffee House and the Emergency in Postcolonial India'' (Cambridge UP, 2020).
* Prakash, Gyan. ''Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point'' (Princeton UP, 2019).
online review
* Ramashray Roy and D. L. Sheth. "The 1977 Lok Sabha Election Outcome: The Salience of Changing Voter Alignments Since 1969," ''Political Science Review'' (1978), Vol. 17 Issue 3/4, pp. 51–63
*Coomi Kapoor. (2015) ''The Emergency: A Personal History''. Viking Books.
* Arun Shourie, Shourie, Arun (1984). Mrs Gandhi's second reign. New Delhi: Vikas.
* Shourie, Arun (1978). Symptoms of fascism. New Delhi: Vikas.
* Sahasrabuddhe, P. G., & Vājapeyī, M. (1991). The people versus emergency: A saga of struggle. New Delhi : Suruchi Prakashan.
External links
Telegram 8557 from the United States Embassy in India to the Department of State, 27 June 1975* A. Z. Hu
Democratic Norms, Human Rights and the States of Emergency: Lessons from the Experience of Four Countries"Memories of a Father," a book by Eachara Varier, father of a student killed in police custody during the emergency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emergency (India)
The Emergency (India),
1975 in India
1976 in India
1977 in India
Censorship
Censorship in India
Collective punishment
Human rights abuses in India
History of the Indian National Congress
Enforced disappearances
Forced migration
Political repression
Police brutality in India
Police misconduct in India
Crimes against humanity
Totalitarianism
Torture
Indian National Congress
History of the Republic of India
Politics of India
Indira Gandhi administration