1. In India, "the Emergency" refers to a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution because of the prevailing "internal disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from 25 June 1975 until its withdrawal on 21 March 1977. The order bestowed upon the Prime Minister the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed. For much of the Emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored. Several other human rights violations were reported from the time, including a forced mass-sterilization campaign spearheaded by Sanjay Gandhi, the Prime Minister's son. The Emergency is one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history. 2. The final decision to impose an emergency was proposed by Indira Gandhi, agreed upon by the president of India, and thereafter ratified by the cabinet and the parliament (from July to August 1975), based on the rationale that there were imminent internal and external threats to the Indian state.

OPINION
26/04/2019
1771.

SUB : THE GENERAL elections of February 1967 marked the end of an era in Indian politics, the era of the unchallenged supremacy of the Indian National Congress, the party of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Founded in 1885, it had led the freedom struggle against the British, had taken over the reigns of the country at independence on August 15, 1947, and had dominated its post-independence politics for 20 years, triumphing, by overwhelming margins, in the general elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962.

REF : THE ROUT OF THE CONGRESS PARTY : Why It Happened and What It Means For India : March 11, 1967 :  Hiranmay Karlekar : The Harvard Crimson : Media Report.

It had occasionally lost control of individual states. Kerala in the south had plumped for a Communist government in 1957 and had gone in for a socialist government earlier. In 1957, again, it had to share power in Orissa with the right-wing party Ganatantra Parishad or Democratic Council. But in none of these could it be kept out of power for long. In Kerala, the central government had ousted the Communists from power and imposed direct rule by the President of India following massive popular unheaval against the Communists in 1959. In the mid-term elections that had followed in 1960, a non-Communist coalition consisting of Congress and other parties had routed the Communists. Later the coalition had disintegrated and Congress had come to be the sole party in power. In Orissa, too, the coalition had broken down and the Congress given absolute majority in the mid-term elections of 1961. In the other states. its position had never been seriously threatened. Its domination of the Parliament at the Center was total. It controlled 364 of the 500 seats in the all-important lower house (Lok Sabha or the House of People) elected in 1962.

I. The Rout :

The picture changed radically after the Indian electorate had voted in the fourth general elections held from February 15 to 22 this year. Of the 16 states, only eight returned Congress to power with absolute majorities in the state legislatures. Of the remaining eight Kerala and Orissa chose a leftist (Communist dominated) and rightist coalition respectively. Madras, a Congress stronghold and the home state of the Congress President, Kumaraswami Kamaraj, voted to power Dravida Munnetra Khazagam (Dravidian Progress Party) popularly referred to as the D.M.K., a party whose main concern is regional and whose opposition to the imposition of Hindi as the sole official language of India, relentless. West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab deprived Congress of its absolute majority in their respective state legislatures but left it as the largest single party. Already at the time of this writing, a leftist ministry has been sworn in in West Bengal and another in Bihar. Congress has been asked to form a government in Rajasthan. With luck, it may form a government there and also in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. It has retained its majority at the Center, but has had it drastically reduced. Out of a total of 521 seats in the new Lok Sabha, the results of 504 have been announced. Congress has won 278 of these.

Equally savage has been the rout of its top leadership. Seven members of Mrs. Gandhi's cabinet at the Center have been defeated. Among them is S.K. Patil, the tough political boss of Bombay and a member of the "Syndicate" that had effected, in 1964, the unanimous choice of Lal Bahadur Shastri as Nehru's successor and, in 1966, the election of Mrs. Gandhi as Shastri's successor. The two other leading lights of the "Syndicate," Mr. Kamaraj and Atulya Ghosh of West Bengal, have both been defeated. So have been the Presidents of Congress party organizations in 6 states and the Chief Ministers in 4 states.

II. Popular Disenchantment :

TO A LARGE degree, the staggering dimensions of the party's setback is a measure of the extent of popular disenchantment with it. In twenty years of undisputed authority, it had failed to tackle India's chronic food shortage and, in the two years before the elections, that shortage had become extremely acute thanks to unprecedented drought in the provinces of Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. Prices had been spiralling upwards, essentials of life obtainable only after prolonged and humble striving. Nor could the Congress project hope that the situation would improve after a while. Its performance in the monsoon session of the last Parliament in 1966, was incredibly poor and the opposition, despite its numerical weakness--134 seats out of 500--had completely dominated the proceedings. The impression was gaining ground that Congress was losing its grip over the situation and the country was hopelessly drifting towards chaos and economic stagnation. Devaluation of the Rupee did little to improve matters and it began to be said openly that the government had succumbed to Western pressure in agreeing to do it.

III. Regional Grievances :

A.
1.The general slump in the popularity of the Congress had been accentuated in different regions by regional grievances. In Madras, the main issue that swept the "Dravida Munnetra Khazagam" to power was fear of the imposition of Hindi as the sole official language of India.

2. In Punjab, the fall in Congress stock was largely due to squabbles attending the partition of the state of Punjab into Punjab and Hariana. In Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the Jan Sangh certainly gathered a large number of votes through its agitation against cow slaughter.

B.
3. But despite these regional issues, despite mounting popular disenchantment with its rule, Congress would not have fared as badly as it did had its own house been in order.

4. "Unfortunately, it was not. Twenty years of uninterrupted enjoyment of power had made it smug and arrogant, engendered in its top leaders a false confidence in their own invulnerability."

 5. "One reflection of this could be seen in their uncompromising attitude towards the dissidents inside their party, the continued and relentless exclusion of the latter from all position of authority."

6. The bitter infighting that followed this led to large-scale expulsions and resignations and in West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar ex-Congressmen formed parties which contested the official Congress in the elections.

7. In other states, where no such extreme development took place, Congressmen often allied secretly with opposition candidates to defeat candidates belonging to rival factions of their own party.

C.
8. The disastrous consequences this has had on Congress fortunes becomes clear when ones remembers that the Chief Minister who heads the newly-formed coalition government in West Bengal, is an ex-Congressmen of unimpeachable honesty who had been hounded out of the party by machine politicians. The new party he formed after his expulsion, the Bangla Congress of Bengal Congress, secured 34 seats in the recent elections and accounted for much of the Congress losses. Taken together, his party and Congress, which has secured 128 seats in the new state assembly, account for 162 of its 280 seats--a total that would have formed a comfortable absolute majority for the party had it stayed united.

9. Similarly in Bihar, the man who has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister, is Mr. Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, the leader of Jana Kranti Dal, a breakaway wing of the state Congress.

10. Again, the coalition which has captured power in Orissa consists of the Jana Congress or People's Congress, a breakaway splinter of the state Congress and the Swatantra or Freedom Party.

D.
11. However, its discomfiture notwithstanding, it would be wrong to assume that this year's general elections have marked the beginning of the end of Congress as a party. Though badly mauled, it continues to be the biggest, most well-organized and the most powerful political organization in India.

12. It is true that the people have become disenchanted with it, but one wonders whether their disenchantment will be permanent and also whether their disenchantment is really with the party itself or with the elements currently in control of it.

13. For, while Congressmen identified as machine politicians and dispensers of patronage have been mostly trounced, their colleagues who are reputed to be honest and efficient have had no difficulty in getting elected.

14. Mr. Chavan, erstwhile Defence Minister and of late Home Minister in Mrs. Gandhi's cabinet, has polled the highest number of votes polled by anyone in any one of the Parliamentary constituencies in this year's election.

15. Mrs. Gandhi herself has been elected with a margin of 91,000 votes.

16. Morarji Desai, Mrs. Gandhi's rival for the Prime Ministership and an eyesore of the "Syndicate" that so long controlled the Congress, has also won with a huge plurality.

E.
17. It is therefore a safe assumption that if the Congress purges its ranks and overhauls its organization, it may still regain much of the public affection it has lost. Indeed, there are two powerful factors that favor such a return to grace.

18. First, the Congress had built up a huge reservoir of goodwill during the freedom struggle and a large bulk of Indians still feel a deep sentimental attachment towards it. They voted against Congress this time because their patience had been stretched to the limit, but they will eagerly vote for the Congress once again if they are convinced that it has regained even a part of its idealism of yesteryears.

19. Secondly, it is extremely doubtful whether the parties or coalition of parties which have taken over power in some of the states will be able to do any better than Congress.

20. In West Bengal and Bihar the parties constituting the coalitions make strange bed-fellows and it will be a miracle if they are able to effect harmonious execution of their agreed upon programs. Even if they do, the situation in India is not likely to improve radically within their tenure.

21. It has arisen out of deep conflict between totalitarian economic planning and a democratic political order and will only improve with time and with drastic changes in the pattern of economic planning. Quite possibly, at the time of the 1972 elections, the people may find themselves as disenchanted with the parties they have voted to power as they are with Congress now.

F.
22. But political crystal-gazing is a hazardous occupation and it is possible that none of the two factors mentioned above may ever come into operation. Also, it is quite conceivable that the Congress may fail to reform itself to the extent required. Only time will show what happens.

23. For the present, much more pressing is the necessity to examine some of the other aspects of the recent elections. For example, the rise of regional parties on the plank of regional demands--the D.M.K. is the most prominent example--has already prompted several foreign observers to conclude that India is poised on the brink of national disintegration.

24. While the threat posed by regionalism is genuine, this is, to say the least, an exaggerated conclusion. Much of what will happen in the future hinges on the issue of Hindi. In the north, the major gains have been made by Jan Sangh and to some extent, the Samyukta Socialist Party or the United Socialist Party, both of which are firmly committed to the introduction of Hindi as the sole official language of India.

25. In the south, the D.M.K., which has captured power in Madras, is implacably opposed to the imposition of Hindi as the sole official language for the whole of India. It would certainly be an explosive situation if the Jan Sangh and the Samyaukta Socialist Party persist with their insistence on Hindi.

G.
26. Otherwise, it is difficult to envisage any serious threat to India's integrity. Broadly speaking, the centripetal forces in India are much stronger than the centrifugal forces and it must be noticed that the D.M.K. succeeded in winning in Madras only after it had given up its demand of cession from India.

H.
27. Another aspect of the Indian elections which has been much discussed is the accession to strength of the extreme right and the extreme left. This, again, is only partially true. There has certainly been considerable increase in the strength of the extreme right.

28. The Jan Sangh, the reactionary mouthpiece of Bharatiya Sanatana Dharmam otherwise known as Hinduism, has secured a majority of seats in New Delhi's municipal body and claimed 6 out of the 7 parliamentary seats from New Delhi area. Though it could not topple the Congress Government in Madhya Pradesh, it made sizeable inroads into its majority. It also increased its representation in the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

I
29. It would, however, be wrong to speak of any considerable accession to strength of the extreme left. The Communists have of course captured Kerala, but that was expected.

30. On the other hand, though they have three ministers in the West Bengal Cabinet--two pro-Chinese and one pro-Russian--they have not been able to improve their position with the voters to any marked extent. The combined strength of the two Communist parties in the present assembly comes to 59 out of a total of 280 seats. Their total strength in the previous assembly was 50 out of 252.

J
31. Indeed, much more remarkable than the gains made by the extreme left and the extreme right, have been the gains made by such moderate, democratic parties like Bangla Congress, Jana Congress, Jana Kranti Dal and Swatantra Party.

32. The first three parties are breakaway units of the Congress and share much of its moderate approach to social and economic issues. Unlike these and the Congress, the Swantantra does not believe in economic planning.

33. But then it is not communal, is firmly wedded to the democratic principle and does not have any extra-territorial loyalty like the Communists. Their emergence as important political parties has been a very hopeful sign for Indian democracy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE : EMERGENCY -

1. In India, "the Emergency" refers to a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution because of the prevailing "internal disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from 25 June 1975 until its withdrawal on 21 March 1977. The order bestowed upon the Prime Minister the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed. For much of the Emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored. Several other human rights violations were reported from the time, including a forced mass-sterilization campaign spearheaded by Sanjay Gandhi, the Prime Minister's son. The Emergency is one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history.

2.The final decision to impose an emergency was proposed by Indira Gandhi, agreed upon by the president of India, and thereafter ratified by the cabinet and the parliament (from July to August 1975), based on the rationale that there were imminent internal and external threats to the Indian state.

2. Rise of Indira Gandhi :

Between 1967 and 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to obtain near-absolute control over the government and the Indian National Congress 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, 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 outmanoeuvred her rivals, forcing the party to split in 1969—into the Congress (O) (comprising the old-guard known as the "Syndicate") and her Congress (R). A majority of the All-India Congress Committee 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 realised 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 nationalisation of several major banks and the September 1970 abolition of the privy purse; these changes were often done suddenly, via ordinance, to the shock of her opponents. Subsequently, unlike the Syndicate and other opponents, 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." The prime minister was especially adored by the disadvantaged sections—the poor, Dalits, women and minorities. For them, she was their Indira Amma, a personification of Mother Indira.

In the 1971 general elections, the people rallied behind Indira's populist slogan of Garibi Hatao! (abolish poverty!) to award her a huge majority (352 seats out of 518). "By the margin of its victory," historian Ramachandra Guha 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, formerly East Pakistan. Awarded the Bharat Ratna the next month, she was at her greatest peak; for her biographer Inder Malhotra, "The Economist'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, referred to her as Durga, a Hindu goddess.

3. Increasing government control of the judiciary :

In 1967's Golaknath case, the Supreme Court said that the Constitution could not be amended by Parliament 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 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" of the Constitution. Subsequently, Prime Minister Gandhi made A. N. Ray—the senior most judge among those in the minority in Kesavananda Bharati—Chief Justice of India. Ray superseded three judges more senior to him—J. M. Shelat, K. S. Hegde 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 ("JP").

4. Political and civic unrest :

During 1973–75, political unrest against the Indira Gandhi government increased across the country. This led some Congress party leaders to demand a move towards a presidential system emergency declaration with a more powerful directly elected executive. The most significant of the initial such movement was the Nav Nirman 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, and the imposition of President's rule. After the re-elections in June 1977, Gandhi's party was defeated by the Janata alliance, formed by parties opposed to the ruling Congress party. Meanwhile there were assassination attempts on public leaders as well as the assassination of the railway minister L. N. Mishra 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 socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, referred to as JP, against the Bihar government. In April 1974, in Patna, JP called for "total revolution," asking students, peasants, and labour unions to non-violently transform Indian society. He also demanded the dissolution of the state government, but this was not accepted by Centre. A month later, the railway-employees union, the largest union in the country, went on a nationwide railways strike. This strike was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government, which arrested thousands of employees and drove their families out of their quarters.

5. Raj Narain verdict :

Raj Narain, 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. Shanti Bhushan fought the case for Narain. Indira Gandhi was also cross-examined in the High Court which was the first such instance for an Indian Prime Minister.

On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal 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 and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. 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, 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 described it as "firing the Prime Minister for a traffic ticket". Her supporters organized 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, 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. JP Narayan and Morarji Desai called for daily anti-government protests. The next day, JP 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'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 to issue a proclamation of a state of emergency. 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.

6. 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 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, whose own power had grown considerably over the last few years to become an "extra-constitutional authority". Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, proposed to the prime minister to impose an "internal emergency". He drafted a letter for the President to issue the proclamation on the basis of 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 a quick question regarding a procedural matter, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed 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-month period until her decision to hold elections in 1977.

7. 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 own 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.

8. Arrests :

Invoking article 352 of the Indian Constitution, Gandhi granted herself extraordinary powers and launched a massive crackdown on civil liberties and political opposition. The Government used police forces across the country to place thousands of protestors and strike leaders under preventive detention. Vijayaraje Scindia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Arun Jaitley, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Gayatri Devi, the dowager queen of Jaipur and other protest leaders were immediately arrested. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jamaat-e-Islami along with some political parties were banned. Numerous Communist leaders were arrested along with many others involved with their party. Congress leaders who dissented the Emergency declaration and amendment to the constitution such as Mohan Dharia and Chandra Shekhar resigned their government and party positions and were arrested and placed under detention.

In Tamil Nadu, the M. Karunanidhi government was dissolved and the leaders of the DMK were incarcerated. In particular, Karunanidhi's son M. K. Stalin, was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. At least nine High Courts pronounced that even after the declaration of an emergency, a person could challenge his detention. The Supreme Court, now under the Indira Gandhi-appointed Chief Justice A. N. Ray, overruled all of them, upholding the state's plea for power to detain a person without the necessity of informing him of the grounds for his arrest, or to suspend his personal liberties, or to deprive him of his right to life, in an absolute manner (the habeas corpus case'). Many political workers who were not arrested in the first wave, went 'underground' continuing organising protests. Cases like Baroda dynamite case and Rajan case became exceptional examples of atrocities committed against civilians in independent India.

9. 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. Also, she had little trouble amending the Constitution that exonerated her from any culpability in her election-fraud case, imposing President's Rule in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, 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. 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)

In the Rajan case, P. Rajan of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was arrested by the police in Kerala 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 suit filed in the Kerala High Court.

10. Forced sterilization :

In September 1976, Sanjay Gandhi initiated a widespread compulsory sterilization programme to limit population growth. The exact extent of Sanjay Gandhi's role in the implementation of the programme 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. Rukhsana Sultana 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 sterilisation campaign in Muslim areas of old Delhi. The campaign primarily involved getting males to undergo vasectomy. 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 programme led to 8.3 million sterilisations, most of them forced, up from 2.7 million the previous year. The bad publicity led every government since 1977 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 sterilisation in a jeep. En route, the police forced a man on the bicycle into the jeep because he was not sterilised. 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 sterilised, he was beaten. A sterilisation 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 sterilised. The infection took his life.

Harijan, a 70-year-old with no teeth and bad eyesight, was sterilized forcefully.

Uttawar, a village 80 kilometres 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. Total of 800 forced sterilisations were done.

In Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on 18 October 1976, police picked up 17 people, nine Hindu and eight Muslims out of which two were over 75 and two under 18. Hundreds of Hindus and Muslims surrounded the police station demanding to free captives. The police refused to release them and used tear gas shells. Crowd retaliated by throwing stones and to control the situation, the police fired on the crowd. 30 people died as a result.

11. Criticism against the Government :

Criticism and accusations of the Emergency-era may be grouped as:

i. Detention of people by police without charge or notification of families

ii. Abuse and torture of detainees and political prisoners

iii. Use of public and private media institutions, like the national television network Doordarshan, for government propaganda

iv. During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi asked the popular singer Kishore Kumar to sing for a Congress party rally in Bombay, but he refused.[42] As a result, Information and broadcasting minister Vidya Charan Shukla put an unofficial ban on playing Kishore Kumar songs on state broadcasters All India Radio and Doordarshan from 4 May 1976 till the end of Emergency.

v. Forced sterilization.

vi. Destruction of the slum and low-income housing in the Turkmen Gate and Jama Masjid area of old Delhi.

vii. Large-scale and illegal enactment of laws (including modifications to the Constitution).

The Emergency years were the biggest challenge to India's commitment to democracy, which proved vulnerable to the manipulation of powerful leaders and hegemonic Parliamentary majorities.

12. Resistance movements :

i. The role of RSS :

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which was seen close to opposition leaders, and with its large organisational base was seen as having the potential of organising protests against the Government, 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 against the curtailment of fundamental rights. Later, when there was no letup, the volunteers of the RSS formed underground movements for the restoration of democracy. 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 co-ordination of the movement.

The Economist described the movement as "the only non-left revolutionary force in the world". It said that the movement was "dominated by tens of thousands of RSS cadres, though more and more young recruits are coming". Talking about its objectives it said "its platform at the moment has only one plank: to bring democracy back to India".

The claims of RSS leaders have been contested by political scientist Professor DL Sheth saying that these organisations have never borne the brunt Indira's oppressive regime. The RSS projects itself as the champion of anti-Emergency struggle but it was in fact, it's only lifeline.  In a 2000 Hindu daily article, Dr. Subramanian Swamy had alleged that several Sangh leaders were hobnobbing with Indira. He added that the Sangh, at the instance of Vajpayee, even went further to sign a peace accord with Indira Gandhi.

ii. Sikh opposition :

Shortly after the declaration of the Emergency, the Sikh leadership convened meetings in Amritsar where they resolved to oppose the "fascist 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 freedom 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 and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (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.

According to Amnesty International, 140,000 people had been arrested without trial during the twenty months of Gandhi's Emergency. Jasjit Singh Grewal estimates that 40,000 of them came from India's two percent Sikh minority.

13. Elections of 1977 :

On 18 January 1977, Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released all political prisoners though the Emergency officially ended on 23 March 1977. The opposition Janata movement's campaign warned Indians that the elections might be their last chance to choose between "democracy and dictatorship."

In the Lok Sabha elections, held in March, Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay both lost their Lok Sabha seats, as did all the Congress Candidates in Northern states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Many Congress Party loyalists deserted Mrs. Gandhi. The Congress was reduced to just 153 seats, 92 of which were from four of the southern states. The Janata Party's 298 seats and its allies' 47 seats (of a total 542) gave it a massive majority. Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.

Voters in the electorally largest state of Uttar Pradesh, 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 a 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 as the 'nasbandi' (vasectomy) campaign in rural areas. The middle classes also emphasised the curbing of freedom throughout the state and India. Meanwhile, Congress hit an all-time low in West Bengal because of the poor discipline and factionalism among Congress activists as well as the numerous defections that weakened the party. Opponents emphasised the issues of corruption in Congress and appealed to a deep desire by the voters for fresh leadership.

14. 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 disorganised, over-complex and politically motivated process of litigation. The Thirty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India, put in place shortly after the outset of the Emergency and which among other things prohibited judicial reviews of states of emergencies and actions taken during them, also likely played a role in this lack of success. Although special tribunals were organised and scores of senior Congress Party and government officials arrested and charged, including Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, police were unable to submit sufficient evidence for most cases, and only a few low-level officials were convicted of any abuses.

The people lost interest in the hearings owing to their continuous fumbling and complex nature, and the economic and social needs of the country grew more important to them.

15. 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 carried an obituary that read

Democracy, beloved husband of Truth, loving father of Liberty, brother of Faith, Hope and Justice, expired on June 26.

A few days later censorship was imposed on newspapers. The Delhi edition of the Indian Express on 28 June, carried a blank editorial, while the Financial Express reproduced in large type Rabindranath Tagore's poem "Where the mind is without fear".

However, the Emergency also received support from several sections. It was endorsed by social reformer Vinoba Bhave (who called it Anushasan parva, a time for discipline), industrialist J. R. D. Tata, writer Khushwant Singh, and Indira Gandhi's close friend and Orissa Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy. However, Tata and Satpathy later regretted that they spoke in favour of the Emergency. Others have argued that Gandhi's Twenty Point Programme increased agricultural production, manufacturing activity, exports and foreign reserves.[citation needed] Communal Hindu–Muslim riots, which had resurfaced in the 1960s and 1970s, also reduced in intensity.

In the book JP Movement and the Emergency, historian Bipan Chandra wrote, "Sanjay Gandhi and his cronies like Bansi Lal, Minister of Defence 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 structure of the Indian Constitution 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."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PUBLIC OPINION :

1. One significant aspect of Jawaharlal Nehru appointing his daughter, Indira as Congress President in 1959. Indira did not rise from grassroot, but with the shrewd measure of her father. 

2. Subsequently through Kamraj Plan, Nehru prepared ground for Indira's rise to PM post. Nehru and Indira were also responsible for dismissing of democratically elected communist government headed by EMS Namboodiripad of Kerala in 1959. 

3. These were early sign of dictatorial nature of Nehru. 

4. All dictators are self-possessed, so was Nehru, who signed Bharat Ratna for himself and through films, government propaganda mechanisms like Radio etc., and through newsprint control and government advertisements in newspapers, he projected himself like a god, who was only hope of the nation and international statesman. 

5. So, for Indira, it was but natural to control power (and perhaps wealth) and become PM. The real transformation of Congress party happened when most of the tall leaders like Patel, Shyama Prasad were dead, and leaders like Biju Patnaik, Pratap Chandra  and like were compelled to quit Congress.

MEDIA OPINION :

1. The seeds of the deterioration of the Congress party which were sown during the period of Nehru germinated and grew during the Indira regime before becoming a full blown tree in the Sonia-Rahul era which is most likely to fall due to its overbearing weight. The reasons for the decline of the Congress party which surfaced during the Indira period were not addressed by the current leadership and kept in limbo. The working of the Congress government and party gave birth to new problems which hastened its downslide further. The dual control of the Manmohan Singh government and the Congress party by the Gandhi family worked was calibrated properly and worked well initially but it ran into rough weather in the second term.  

2. The remote control of the government and managing the alliance partners created frictions which snowballed into a serious of political crisis and electoral backlash in 2014 hustings. The high command syndrome which decided party matters earlier at national and state matters was extended at local levels with no connect with party functionaries at ground zero. The absence of a strong leader within the Congress is another significant factor.    

3. The Congress under Nehru weakened the party rank and file BY HIS WRONG DECISIONS AND BLUNDERS HE KNOWINGLY MADE. HIS HATRED ON HINDUS, AND APPEASEMENT OF MUSLIMS, A DIVISIVE POLITICS AND HIS COLONIAL MINDSET CUM LEFT ORIENTATION/LEANINGS ARE THE REASONS IN THE START TO THE DECLINE OF CONGRESS. 

4. The ascendancy of Indira after a tough fight with right leadership in the Congress and subsequent expulsion paved the way for centre to left policies making her one of the most popular leader of her time. The charismatic leadership of Indira weakened the party rank and file and she banked on centralised and authoritative decisions to rule the country and maintain the single party dominance of the Congress.  

4. The party at present does not have a strong leader and workable structure and its evil left ideological agenda.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LAST WORDS :

1. AT PRESENT CONGRESS IS BEYOND ANY REPAIRS, ALONG WITH COMMUNISM CONGRESS TOO ABOUT DISAPPEAR, FROM THIS HOLY BHARATHAM, WAIT AND SEE...

JAY HIND
JAY BHARATHAM
VANDE MATARAM
BHARAT MATA KI JAY.