• Indira Gandhi had won the 1971 general elections by a huge margin (352 seats of 518).
• Her stature as a strong, decisive and manipulative leader had grown only stronger after India routed Pakistan in the 1971 war.
• Her fame was at its peak, and she was honoured with India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.
• However, a series of issues started plaguing the nation:

• In 1974, monsoon was weak, unemployment rate high, poverty was on the rise and there was massive unrest among the people.
• The common man was marred by the pervasive corruption. Led by social activist Jayaprakash “JP” Narayan, a mass movement was organised against the corruption and ill governance of Indira Gandhi-led congress.

• The Supreme Court (SC) ruling in Golaknath v. State of Punjab (1967) had reversed its earlier decision which had upheld Parliament's power to amend all parts of the Constitution, including Part III related to Fundamental Rights. Indira Gandhi thought this judgement severely limited the control of the executive on the matters of the state.
• So, the 24th Constitutional amendment was enacted by the government in 1971.
• It enabled the Parliament to dilute Fundamental Rights through amendments of the Constitution. It also amended article 368 to provide expressly that the Parliament has power to amend any provision of the Constitution.
• The amendment further made it obligatory for the President to give his assent when a Constitution Amendment Bill was presented to him.
• Subsequently, and surprisingly, the SC upheld the validity of the 24th Amendment in the landmark Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala in 1971.
• This case was presided over by a bench of 13 judges (the highest ever till date) and in a sharply divided verdict, by a margin of 7-6, the court held that while the Parliament has "wide" powers, it did not have the power to destroy or emasculate the basic elements or fundamental features of the constitution.

• Raj Narain, who had been defeated in election by Indira Gandhi, lodged cases of election fraud and misuse of state machinery during election campaign. Allahabad High Court, finding her guilty, declared her election null and void and also banned her from contesting elections for next six years.
• On June 24, 1975 the SC upheld the decision.
• The next day, JP organised a large rally in Delhi, where he said that a police officer must reject the orders of the government if the order is immoral and unethical as this was Mahatma Gandhi's motto during the freedom struggle.
• Indira now had to do what she had to do.

• Due to mounting pressure from all sides, Indira Gandhi requested the compliant President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to issue a proclamation of a state of emergency invoking Article 352 of the constitution, and citing grave danger to national security of India due to ‘internal disturbances’.
• National Emergency was imposed on the night of 25 June 1975.
• The government launched a massive crackdown on civil and political liberties of people. The government clipped the wings of judiciary too.
• Within hours of the proclamation, Indira had put almost every single Opposition leader of weight in jail, cut the electric power lines to major newspapers, gagged the press from making any comment, and let loose in India’s air invisible but asphyxiating fumes of fear, abject fear.
• Stalwart Opposition leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were joined in jail by some Congressmen who dared to dissent, like Chandrashekhar and Mohan Dharia. Indira Gandhi turned overnight from India’s prime minister to India’s dictator with, standing by her, her son and alter ego, Sanjay Gandhi.
• Thousands across the country, politicians and non-politicians, were jailed under the open-ended provisions of ‘preventive detention’. And thousands, hundreds of thousands more, were left in holy dread of similar preventive arrests.

 Constitutional Changes

• The 38th Amendment barred judicial review of the emergency.  An amendment was even drafted to clear Indira Gandhi from the Allahabad HC ruling.
• The 39th Amendment stated that the election of the President, Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker could not be challenged by the SC.
• The most controversial was the 42nd amendment which in a way revised the constitution of India itself. The preamble was amended, Fundamental Duties were introduced, Fundamental Rights degraded and judicial challenges to changes were disallowed.

Social Crackdown

• The government suspended the seven freedoms guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.
• The Police detained people without charges or warrant. All the opposition leaders were arrested.
• Forced sterilisation and birth control programs were introduced which also resulted in massive corruption.
• Media was censored and stifled.
• Four major religious, political and revolutionary parties were banned.

Economic reforms

• A '20-point' economic program was devised to increase agricultural and industrial production, improve public services and fight poverty and illiteracy.
• The Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79) was in force during the Emergency. It had wanted to achieve two main objectives: 'removal of poverty' (Garibi Hatao) and 'attainment of self-reliance'. During the Emergency, the focus totally shifted to the 20-point program.

Where did the dark period lead India to ?

• The power to declare emergency lies with the President of India, who is advised by the executive on that matter.
• Today, this is the condition for the imposition of National Emergency:
• Articles 352 of the Indian constitution says that “If the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India or of any part of territory thereof is threatened, whether by war or external aggression or armed rebellion he may, by proclamation, make declaration to that effect”.
• (‘Armed Rebellion’ was ‘Internal Disturbance’ before the 1975 emergency, which allowed Indira Gandhi to impose it)

 The Road to the end of emergency

• There are many theories on why Indira Gandhi suddenly called for the general elections.
• She perhaps found her hold receding over the Congress as her methods were opposed by other party leaders. There was mounting pressure from the international community to restore the democratic order.
• On the economic front, India was doing well and inflation was under control. Congress declared the success of its 20 point program.
• Perhaps Congress assumed that elections, if called, will work in their favour. On 21 March 1977, the Emergency was withdrawn.
• The elections yielded unexpected results for Congress, as both Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi were defeated and for the first time a non-congress party formed the government.
• Morarji Desai of the Janata Alliance became the Prime Minister of India.

• JP Narayan: He was one of the main opponents of the Congress who led the Civil Disobedience movement and had a massive following.
• In fact, he was the reason Indira felt politically threatened in the first place.
• Power was slipping away from her and, intolerable to her, the same power – informal but indisputable – was swarming to Jayaprakash.
• His movement against corruption, misgovernance and authoritarianism touched so vital a chord, first in Bihar and then beyond, with the people of India that he came to enjoy countrywide the sentiment that Mahatma Gandhi had publicly expressed for him: Adoration. “Andhere mein ek Prakash” (a ray of light in darkness) went the opening cry, followed by a full throated ‘Jayaprakash! Jayaprakash!’ He was ‘Loknayak’ by now, a description that fitted him like a cap, as ‘Lokamanaya’ had fitted Tilak and ‘Netaji’, Subhas. When leading a procession against the Bihar government lathis rained down on him in Patna on November 4, 1974, breaking two of his ribs and an elbow, JP fell down vowing “I will teach this government a lesson”. And he did.
• Sanjay Gandhi: Indira’s son was responsible for several controversial actions during the Emergency, including the razing of slums, forced sterilisations and the imprisonment of opponents.
• George Fernandes: The firebrand leader successfully organised the railway strike of 1974 and brought the entire nation to halt. His photo standing defiantly with his shackled hand raised became one of the most iconic images of the Emergency era.
• Jagmohan Lal Sinha: This Allahabad High Court judge presided over the Raj Narain case.
• Ramnath Goenka: The Indian Express man defiantly fought to preserve the freedom of press.

• “Recent experience has shown”, the bill for the 44th Amendment explained, “that the fundamental rights, including those of life and liberty, granted to citizens by the Constitution are capable of being taken away by a transient majority.
• It is, therefore, necessary to provide adequate safeguards against the recurrence of such a contingency in the future and to ensure to the people themselves an effective voice in determining the form of government under which they are to live.”
• During the emergency, many amendments were made and some of them were against the spirit of the constitution. It has since then become necessary to ensure that nobody assumes dictatorial power, and abuses the constitution.
• Once the emergency was revoked, one of the most important amendments, the 44th, was enacted and it substantially altered the emergency provisions:
• "Internal disturbance" was replaced by "armed rebellion" under art 352.
• The Fundamental Rights under Articles 20 and 21 cannot be revoked even during an Emergency.
• The decision of proclamation of emergency must now be communicated by the Cabinet in writing.
• Such a proclamation of emergency has to be approved by both the Houses of Parliament by absolute majority of the total membership of the Houses as well as 2/3 majority of members present and voting within one month, otherwise the proclamation ceases to operate.
• To continue emergency, it must be re-approved by the houses every six months.
• It provides that ten per cent or more members of the Lok Sabha can requisition a meeting of the Lok Sabha and in that meeting, it can disapprove or revoke the emergency by a simple majority. In such a case emergency will immediately become inoperative.
• These changes have effectively ensured that India’s democracy will never be held hostage by sheer political opportunism.