One of the turning points of Indian politics, the Emergency was set in motion by the Indira Gandhi government on June 25, 1975 and remained in place for 21 months till its withdrawal on March 21, 1977. The order gave Indira Gandhi, India’s first woman Prime Minister, the authority to rule by decree and saw the large-scale curbing of civil liberties. 

Roots of emergency

Emergency dark period which saw Indian democracy brutally crushed: PM Modi

The Emergency traces its roots back to 1971, when socialist leader Raj Narain was defeated by Indira Gandhi in the Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli seat. Alleging electoral malpractice, bribery and violation of the Representation of the People Act of 1951, Narain filed a case against Gandhi, accusing her of also using government officers for her election work. On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court convicted Mrs. Gandhi of electoral malpractice, and was disqualified from Lok Sabha and all other elected posts for six years.

She could, however, continue as Prime Minister. In response, socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan launched an agitation, asking government servants to reject the orders of the corrupt government.

Soon after, on June 25, 1975, on a recommendation from Mrs. Gandhi’s government, then-President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed announced a nationwide state of emergency, citing “an imminent danger to the security of India being threatened by internal disturbances,” particularly after the war with Pakistan and the liberation of Bangladesh.

What happened

The oppressive Maintenance of Internal Security Act was passed during the Emergency era. There was large-scale suspension of fundamental rights for the citizenry, detention and arrest of Opposition leaders and critics, and press censorship. The 38th Amendment Act of 1975 also made declaration of a national emergency immune to judicial review (this was later removed by the 44th Amendment Act of 1978). Critics were livid: the Chairman of the Constitution Amendment Committee Swaran Singh was accused of having “performed a sterilisation surgery of the Constitution.” Tamil Nadu saw the dissolution of the government of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, and the arrest of his son amidst protests under the MISA Act.

Emergency remained in effect till March 21, 1977, a 21-month period of mass protests and unrest. It eventually also led to a Janata Party wave in 1977 that swept the Congress out of power.

Here, we take a look at what some prominent voices had to say about one of the darkest periods of India’s history.

When Chennai’s newspapers went blank

Writer Gnani, who was working as a reporter in a newspaper in Chennai, recalls how the city reacted. “Among the politically aware, there was confusion as to what will happen... “The Censor wanted to kill newspapers by delaying approvals. Along with letting pages go blank, sometimes innocuous stuff like how to make onion raitha (salad) would be printed since political news could not be taken,” he says.

Calcutta’s prophets of doom

“I was in Calcutta for my Rajya Sabha election, scheduled for 26 June,” writes the then President Pranab Mukherjee in his book The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Years. “I got to the assembly building at about 9.30 a.m. It was teeming with state legislators, ministers and political leaders, some with questions and others with conspiracy theories. Some went to the extent of suggesting that, a la Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh, Indira Gandhi had abrogated the Constitution and usurped power for herself, with the army in tow. I corrected these prophets of doom, saying that the Emergency had been declared according to the provisions of the Constitution rather than in spite of it.”

Arrests in Bangalore

Several senior BJP leaders now, including the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani and socialist leaders such as Shyam Nandan Mishra and Madhu Dandavate, were arrested in Bangalore on June 26... With so many leading figures in the same jail, Bangalore became an important point in the movement to oppose Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Mastering the drill of democracy - Gopalkrishna Gandhi

The Emergency is a distant memory today because the nation’s collective spine did not bend, the media stayed unbent and the judiciary remained independent.

The Emergency in pictures

Declaration of the Emergency

The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years by Pranab Mukherjee gives an insider’s account of one of the most turbulent times in Indian history. 

Advani fears another Emergency

“Now, the forces that can crush democracy, notwithstanding the constitutional and legal safeguards, are stronger,” says the veteran leader.

Revisiting the Emergency

Gyan Prakash’s book on the turbulent period comes at an opportune moment