In 1975 barely over two decades after it gained independence, India faced its biggest political crisis. On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a national emergency under article 352, on the grounds of internal disturbance. The events leading up to the emergency were marked with rising poverty, economic inequality, and social unrest due to protests across Northern India, mainly due to the JP movement. Emergency was perhaps the darkest period and biggest crisis Indian democracy has faced in the post-Independence era.

Circumstances Leading To Promulgation Of Emergency

1. The height of popularity which Mrs. Gandhi achieved post-1971 war, began to decline by the beginning of 1973. She came to power with slogans of Garibi Hatao, but people’s expectations were unfulfilled and there was rising discontent. 2. Economic situation: It was the main reason for this discontent. A combination of recession, growing unemployment, rampant inflation, and scarcity of foodstuffs created a serious crisis.

1. The post-war efforts and the burden of feeding and sheltering 10 million refugees, had depleted grain reserves. The war had caused a massive budgetary deficit and drained foreign reserves creating more economic woes.
2. Successive failure of rains in 1972 and 73 led to drought and also drop in power generation which created an industrial recession. The combination of this is rising unemployment and prices of goods.
3. The problem was further compounded by the oil shock of 1973 leading to a rise in fuel and fertilizer prices. Just 1972-73 saw a 22 percent rise in prices which affected the poor and middle class alike and also created a shortage of essential commodities.

3. Social conditions: The severe economic crisis, unemployment, scarcity of goods all led to largescale industrial unrest, with a wave of strikes all through 1972, and 1973 culminating in an all-India railway strike in 1974 for 22 days. Law and order deteriorated, particularly during 1974–75. Strikes, student protests, and popular demonstrations often turned violent. It was during this time, three major social classes, began detaching themselves from Congress. The middle class due to price rise and unemployment, the rich landed class due to social reforms, and the capitalist class due to talk of socialism, nationalization banks, etc. 4. Political situation: The situation of 1973 and 74 required strong leadership. But congress by this time had begun declining as an organization and proved incapable of dealing with the crisis at hand creating a political crisis. The economic and political crisis was turned into a crisis of the entire political system, due to popular movements in Gujarat and Bihar and the leadership provided to the Bihar movement by Jayaprakash Narayan. Gujarat in January 1974 saw popular anger over the rise in the prices of foodgrains, and other essential commodities explode in the cities and towns of the state in the form of a student movement which was soon joined by the Opposition parties. Forced by the strength of the agitations and fast unto death by Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi dissolved the assembly and announced fresh elections.

1. Inspired by the success of Gujarat agitation a similar student movement started in Bihar, where the protests turned violent resulting in the death of 27 people in a week.
2. The movement in Bihar was led by JP, who gave calls for total revolution against the corrupt system and he took the movement across the country, demanding the removal of congress and Indira Gandhi.

5. Spark for emergency: At the time when the JP movement was declining, judgment in the Raj Narain case by Justice Sinha of Allahabad High Court convicted Mrs.Gandhi for campaign corruption and declared her election as void. This decision means that she cannot contest in the 1976 election or hold office for six years. While the appeal of Mrs. Gandhi was pending in Apex court, in the Gujarat election Congress suffered a severe blow with the Janata party forming the government. The Allahabad HC judgment and Gujarat election results revived the opposition movement, who now not willing to wait for 1976 general elections decided on a countrywide, one-week campaign to force Mrs. Gandhi to resign. The response of Mrs. Gandhi to this planned campaign and agitations was to impose an emergency on 26th June, on grounds of an internal emergency.

Implications Of Emergency

A. Political Implications

1.Negatives

1. The proclamation of emergency suspended Federal provisions of the constitution, Fundamental rights, and civil liberties.
2. The government imposed strict censorship on the press and stifled all protests and opposition to the government. Several opposition leaders like JP, Morarji Desai, academics, journalists, trade unionists, and student leaders were jailed under the MISA act.
3. During the emergency, parliament was made ineffective. The speeches of opposition MPs who were not arrested were not reported in the press. The state governments were strictly controlled and non-congress governments in Tamilnadu and Gujarat were dismissed.
4. A series of decrees, laws and constitutional amendments reduced the powers of the judiciary. The 42nd amendment act especially tried to put an end to judicial review of constitutional amendments.
5. Fundamental Rights were indirectly emasculated by being made subordinate to an expanded version of the Directive Principles of State Policy embodied in the constitution.

2. Positives:

There was also an immediate and general improvement in administration, with government servants coming to office on time and being more considerate to the public. Quick, dramatic, and well-publicized action was taken against smugglers, hoarders, black marketeers, illegal traders in foreign currency, and tax evaders, with several thousand of them put behind bars under MISA. Serious efforts were made to implement the Twenty -Point Programme; and some quick results were produced in terms of reduction of prices, free availability of essential commodities, and check on hoarding, smuggling, and tax evasion. Congress lost the 1977 elections and the Janata government which came to power brought into force the 44th constitutional amendment act, which changes aspects related grounds on which emergency can be imposed, better protection for fundamental rights, etc.

B. Social Implication:

1. Positives:

1. In the initial days after imposition, people responded with passivity and some even supported the emergency because of the strict measures taken against anti-social elements.
2. With the restoration of public order and discipline, many felt relieved that the country had been saved from disorder and chaos. There was less crime in the cities; gheraos and uncontrolled, often violent, demonstrations came to an end.
3. Emergency has restored social order with teachers, students attending classes. It created an environment of calm that was not known for years.
4. The 20 point program made some progress to uplift the urban poor by providing house sites, distributing surplus land, and laws were passed placing a moratorium on recovery of debts, etc. 2.

Negatives:

The bureaucracy and the police now had increased power that was unchecked by criticism and exposure from the Press, courts, MLAs and MP s, political parties, and popular movements and they abused this power.

1. Drastic press censorship and the silencing of protest led to the government being kept in complete ignorance of what was happening in the country.
2. Because the people knew that what appeared in the Press or on the radio was heavily censored, they no longer trusted them and thus they started trusting rumors, believing the worst about the government.
3. Denial of civil liberties began to be felt by the common people as it began to impact their daily lives in the form of harassment and corruption by petty officials.
4. Delay in lifting the Emergency began to generate the fear that the authoritarian structure of the rule might be made permanent or continue for a long time.
5. The one thing which created the most resentment among people was the growth of the extra-constitutional power center in the form of Sanjay Gandhi. His programs of forced family planning, slum clearance were resented by the masses.

In January 1977, Mrs.Gandhi announced elections to Loksabha, released political prisoners, lifted press censorship. The subsequent elections saw congress losing. It was a time many Indians and people abroad had doubts about the future of democracy in India. However India has not only survived the dark period of emergency and the social unrest of the JP movement, it even thrived. The democratic system has taken firm roots not just because of the constitution or courts but because the people of India have internalized it.