Black day of Indian Democracy

Declaration of the State of Emergency in India (1975-1977)

With a single stroke of the President's pen on the night of June 25, 1975, the world's largest democracy was reduced to a tin-pot dictatorship, one of the many then infesting the Third World. In 1975, the High Court of Allahabad declared that the election of Indira Gandhi as fraudulent and nullified the election.  Although the nullification was based on minor charges, what followed was unexpected. To keep herself in power, Ms. Gandhi suspended Indian democracy with a variety of steps.

1. Invoked the rarest provision of the Constitution (Article 352) to declare an emergency (although no wars were in sight). Civil rights, Parliament and elections were suspended. The Prime Minister could now just rule by decree. All major politicians and civil society activists were arrested during this period.

 2. Censorship on newspapers was imposed. No one was allowed to write against the government. Majority of editors and Indira critics went underground to avoid arrest.

3. 1000s of politicians & journalists were jailed all over the country. Protests were contained with an iron hand. Over 140,000 people were detained without trial.
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4. On 29th June 1975 more than eight state government were dismissed. This is the biggest blow to federalism in India till date. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu were at that tie directly ruled by opposition therefore they were the main target of government. 

5. India was directly ruled by these two people. Sanjay Gandhi and his youth congress were more powerful than the Indian Police during the 21 month period of emergency. Many incidents and program were initiated at his order. some of them are 

1. Forcible sterilization/family planning done on many people. Government employees had to achieve their target of  in order to get their salary.

2. Turkman gate demolition and rioting was the height of brutality during emergency period. Poor slum-dwellers were thrown out of their houses and shot dead.

In fact, this got her rule into trouble more than any of the constitutional amendments. 



Emergency led to Consolidation of opposition in Indian which prior to this was just ruled by a single party.

But we must not forget that all this was avoidable. History changes its course due to a single event. Quoting Ramachandra Guha 

“Had Shastri lived, Indira Gandhi may or may not have migrated to London. But even had she stayed in India, it is highly unlikely that she would have become prime minister. And it is certain that her son would have never have occupied or aspired to that office…Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi would almost certainly still be alive, and in private life. The former would be a (failed) entrepreneur, the latter a recently retired airline pilot with a passion for photography. Finally, had Shastri lived longer, Sonia Gandhi would still be a devoted and loving housewife, and Rahul Gandhi perhaps a middle-level manager in a private sector company.” and surely India would have never experienced the State of Emergency.