Fifty years ago, a state of Emergency was imposed for 21 months by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, shaking the nation to its very core. This act proved to be the gravest threat our democracy has faced since India overthrew the colonial yoke. The Emergency remains a singular inflection point marking a shift towards authoritarianism in our political system and a critical moment in the lives of political leaders, activists, and the people.
The disturbing crackdown on and imprisonment of Opposition leaders, the complete clamping down on civil liberties and curtailment of all fundamental rights, including the right to free speech and the right to assemble for peaceful protests, were unprecedented dictatorial measures. The clampdown on press freedom, including censorship, and attempts to curb the independence of the judiciary, among other grim developments, were pointers to a dangerous trend.
For today’s generation, the Emergency, which shook the foundations of India’s democratic structure 50 years ago, may seem like a distant chapter in history. Young people today must be educated about this dark phase that threatened to change the fundamental nature of Indian democracy.
Let us first understand the extreme conditions that can potentially force the President to declare a National Emergency. Under Article 352 of the Constitution, the President can declare a National Emergency, when the security of the country, or any part of it, is threatened by war, external aggression or armed rebellion. As we know, there were no such triggers in 1975.
The Nav Nirman student movement in Gujarat and the student agitation by the Bihar Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti (supported by the highly respected Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP), raised the level of popular anger against the ruling Congress, especially among the youth. As the anti-corruption movement snowballed into a massive countrywide campaign, JP called for “total revolution” in June 1974.
JP urged students, peasants, and workers’ unions to bring about non-violent change in Indian society, and his popularity began to grow with each passing day. As these protests were brewing, on June 12 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court declared Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha invalid on account of electoral malpractices. With this landmark judgment, the court unseated Mrs Gandhi from the Lok Sabha and banned her from contesting elections for an additional six years.
Mrs Gandhi went to the Supreme Court in appeal. On June 24, the Supreme Court stated that Mrs Gandhi could continue as Prime Minister pending the resolution of her appeal, but barred her from voting in parliamentary proceedings. Desperate to cling to her position, Mrs Gandhi took the unprecedented step of imposing a state of Emergency through a proclamation issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on June 25 under Article 352 (1) of the Constitution of India, citing prevailing “internal disturbance.”
The government suspended fundamental civil liberties, including free speech, freedom of the press, and habeas corpus. Censorship was swiftly imposed, and media outlets critical of the regime were forcibly shut down. In a particularly shocking move, power supply to newspaper offices was abruptly cut off, silencing dissent overnight. Opposition stalwarts like Jayaprakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Morarji Desai, George Fernandes, Jyotirmoy Basu, Charan Singh, J B Kripalani and many others, were detained.
Exercising unbridled power, Mrs Gandhi used the 42nd Amendment to extend the terms of the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies from five to six years. The original five-year term was later reinstated by the 44th Amendment.
The government employed harsh preventive detention provisions nationwide to suppress dissent. Opposition leaders were detained across the country, and activists and students were held for an indefinite period. I was a young student leader at the time, and was arrested and kept in detention for nearly a year and a half in the erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh. Some of the prominent Opposition leaders in AP, such as Tenneti Viswanadham and Gouthu Latchanna, among others, were jailed.
Looking back, I see the seventeen-and-a-half-month period of my incarceration as a turning point in my journey. Had I not been jailed during this time for my student activism, I would probably have become a lawyer to fulfil my mother’s wishes. The Emergency changed the course of my life and career in one stroke.
Organic protests by Opposition parties and students erupted against the Emergency, building up a powerful movement of resistance. The media, to a large extent, buckled and came in for severe criticism. Notable exceptions were The Indian Express under the fiery Ramnath Goenka, The Statesman headed by C R Irani and Nikhil Chakravarty’s The Mainstream. L K Advani’s famous words to journalists after the Emergency had been lifted come to mind: “You were asked only to bend, yet you crawled.”
The historic general elections of 1977 constituted a watershed moment because they brought about a major transition reflecting the will of the people. The Janata Party’s triumph brought an end to the Emergency and was a victory for democratic ideals, reaffirming the supremacy of the ballot. It underscored the power of democratic participation as a peaceful and effective means of achieving change — in this case, by overthrowing a powerful dictatorial regime. This is perhaps the most glowing example of the power of the ballot in our recent history.
The lessons we learnt from this dark era must be passed on to India’s younger generation. They must be firm in standing up to safeguard democratic principles, protect civil liberties, and ensure a foolproof system of checks and balances. Let us not forget that the role of the judiciary and media freedom also came under the lens during this draconian phase. The Emergency reminded us that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.
The writer is former Vice President of India
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