The reality of the emergency of 1975:The emergency

That was the year 1975 when prime minister Indira Gandhi declared an emergency throughout the country and for the next two years , the fundamental rights of the people get suspended. Several opposition leaders get jailed and this part of history is considered a black mark tarnishing Indian democracy.

How many types of emergencies can declare in India:-

A state of emergency refers to a period of government under the constitutional setup that can be proclaimed by the President of India on the behalf of internal, external, and financial situations of crises. in a state of emergency, the fundamental rights of the citizens of India would be dissolved and powers are exercised by the federation.

There are three types of emergencies are addressed in the constitution of India by the President. National emergency article-352, state emergency article-356 (president rule), and financial emergency Article-360.

Which financial emergency was not implemented in India till. 

 

How many times emergency was declared in India:

In India there were emergency was declared thrice:-

1) the first emergency was declared between 26 October 1962 to 1968 during the Indo-Chinawar as the “security of India ” was declared in danger by external aggression.

2) the second emergency was declared between 3 December to 17 December 1971, which was originally proclaimed during the Indo-Pak war, also on the behalf of external aggressions.

3) the Third emergency was proclaimed between 25 June 1975 to 21 March 1977. It was the most studied emergency in the I Indian history which was proclaimed by prime minister Indira Gandhi on the basis of “internal disturbances”, recommended by then President fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. But this emergency was different than others. By declaring this emergency prime minister Indira Gandhi was prohibited from contesting elections for the next 6 years, challenging her legitimacy to continue in her post.

In 1978 by the 44th amendment of the constitution, the words “internal disturbances” for “armed rebellion” in article 352, made the term more specific.

Why was the emergency of 1975 declared:-

What were the reasons for declaring the emergency??? 

Why was it done??? 

Why is it considered so terrifying??

It is strange that 1975 was not the first time an emergency was declared in the country.

Before this, during the 1962 indo -China war and during the 1971 indo- pak war as well. Although the emergency declared in 1975 was different from the other two, it was not due to war or any one reason. There were multiple events. There was several a sequence of events, whose outcome was the emergency of 1975.

 

Sequences of emergency from 1969-1975:-

This sequence of events actually began in 1969, when the Congress party was in power and the fourth five-year plan was being implemented. In 1969 the Congress party decided that fourteen banks would be nationalised. It meant that the government would take ownership of those banks from the private banks several businessmen like j r d Tata, investors and shareholders opposed the decision of nationalization.

On 18 July 1969, the government decided to pass it through an ordinance. But soon the government released that the parliament session was due to begin on 21st July and the president was due to leave his office on the 20th, so the ordinance was drafted in hurry, and almost overnight, it is signed by the President before the parliament session begins. So here you can see clearly how important this policy was considered by Indira Gandhi for the welfare of the country. The justification for the side of Indira Gandhi was that if banks would get nationalized, then the banks could reach everywhere in the country, and could provide their services to even the. Poorest citizen. Something a for-profit company can’t do because they think of profit first. Basically, it is about socialism and capitalism.

 

Step against this policy by shareholders:-

As we told about shareholders were not happy at all with this policy then, there was a bank “central bank of India”, and one of its shareholders was R C Cooper. He approached to supreme court regarding the decision, and he had a small victory in the supreme court. The court declared that the law enacted by the government, was discriminate against the 14 banks which were nationalized, and that was very unfair to shareholders. So the ordinance was rejected by the court.

 

Battle of the Indira Gandhi government and courts:-

When the supreme court rejected the ordinance of the Indira Gandhi government, the government brought in a new amendment to the constitution the next year. And this amusement reversed the supreme court’s judgment, the supreme court’s decision. 

 A few years later, there was a similar case between the Indira Gandhi government and the supreme court regarding the privy purse.

Privy purses used to be a payment given to the royal families of the princely states in India. It was practiced at one point because when the government United all the princely states to form India in 1947, then a condition was laid down that their ruling families would be given a payment by the Indian government. But Indira Gandhi did not like these payments, so their government introduced a bill to abolish the privy purse. But this bill, could not passed in rajya sabha, that’s why the government came up with a new technique, they came out with a proclamation that the princely states would cease to be reorganized as such. It means that there would be no more ruling families in the country. That’s why a privy purse would not be needed. Once again the matter reached the supreme court, and the supreme court declared this proclamation null and void. 

Royal families decided to Run for Elections (Emergency in Indian):-

The Indira Gandhi government added another constitutional amendment, that clearly stated that the privy purse would be abolished for the ruling families, and the judgment of the court was thus reversed. this happened in 1971. 

The Nawab of Pataudi at the time was Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, he contested the election from

Gurgaon, but he could not get even 5% of the votes. On the other hand, another royal family, Vijaya Raje Scindia and her son Madhavrao Scindia contested the elections, and they won the 1971 elections.

These were the events that finally influenced the decision of declaring an emergency. 

1971:-

This was the year when Indira Gandhi won the elections again and this time becomes a very dominant prime minister. Under her, centralization of power was evident. And it is said that the chief ministers of the various states and cabinet ministers, were selected by Indira Gandhi based on who was favored by her. 

1971 was also the year when India -Pakistan war took place, which had a terrible impact on the Indian economy. Inflation rises the price of essential commodities increased rapidly. 

Movements against Corrupted Congress:(Navnirman movement 1974 and others)

At the same time, the Congress party had become so powerful that corruption had crept into it. 

In 1974, the chief minister of Gujarat was chimanbhai Patel, A major scam involving him surfaced. People came out on the roads to protest., Students protested, busses were burnt, shops were looted and the police were attacked. It is known as the Nava Nirman movement this was a strong demand from the people of Gujarat to dissolve the state government. Indira Gandhi had left with no choice, so she dissolved the state government. 

One year prior to this, in 1973, there was a terrible international oil Crisis occurred. Because of this by 1974 crude oil prices went up to by 300%. Once again, the common people are affected. And devastating inflation and price rise were seen. 

In the same year, a movement similar to the one in Gujarat began in Bihar by students, which was led by J. P. Narayan. Nonviolent protests were held against the corruption of the Congress government and the dissolution of the Bihar government is demanded. Another leader George Fernandes carries out a 3- day long railway strike. Demanding better working conditions and salaries for the railway workers, more than 1.7 million workers protested in it. And it became the largest industrial strike in the world at that time. A year passed but Indira Gandhi did not get softened. Like she dissolved the Gujrat state government because of the pressure, she did not do this in Bihar, in fact she claims that the movements were trying to end democracy, calling them foreign-funded anti-national

Movements. But the protest continues. 

Constant strikes, devasting inflation, price rise, unending protests, and allegations of corruption. 

The case against Indira Gandhi Because of emergency in Indian :-

In March 1975, Indira Gandhi gets another shock from the Allahabad High court. There was an ongoing case against Indira Gandhi in the Allahabad high court. This case was filed by socialist election candidate Raj Narain, who had contested the elections against Indira Gandhi in 1971, from the same seat of Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. As Raj Narain was also a freedom fighter but he is more popularly known for his case against Indira Gandhi. Raj Narain directly accused Indira Gandhi that she won her seat in the election using unfair means, that she had manipulated the ballots. Fourteen crimes were reported against Indira Gandhi but she was convicted for only two crimes by the court. 

• The first crime was using the Uttar Pradesh government to build a huge stage to give her speech.
• And the second crime was that her election agent yashpal Kapoor was a government employee even at the time of the elections, which was wrong. 

Because of these two crimes, the court decided Indira Gandhi’s Lok sabha seat as null and void, and Indira Gandhi was removed from the Lok sabha. 

Then the newspaper printed that as it is the decision of the court had basically unseated the prime minister from her seat because of a traffic ticket violation. 

Basically, they were saying they the crime was insignificant and the consequence of it was disproportionately large. Because this decision was taken by the Allahabad high court, Indira Gandhi moved the supreme court to appeal this judgment. 

The opposition exploited this opportunity and took to the roads to demand that the corrupt prime minister should resign. Moradi Desai said that a do-or-dir movement was beginning against congress. The decision of Allahabad high court had come on 12th June 1975. 

What Happened After the 24th June 1975 Emergency in India:-

Indira Gandhi’s appeal was heard in the supreme court and judges said that all her privileges can be withdrawn and that she can not vote or contest an election for the next 6 years, but she could remain the prime minister till the next hearing. After the court’s statement, there was an uproar on the streets, and the intensity of the protest of the opposition increased further. Some congress leaders started protesting in favor of Indira Gandhi. The rallies were taken out against Indira Gandhi, and one of those rallies was led by JP Narayan. He urged the students to come out and protest, he urged the people to stop obeying the police and he told the police and armed forces that they refuse the orders from the government. This was a kind of civil disobedience but we can say it was internal disturbance too.

Emergency in Indian constitution:-

Article 352 of the Indian constitution, states that an emergency can be declared by the President of India if India’s security is threatened by “war or external aggressions or internal disturbances”. This means that in India, an emergency can be declared for 3 reasons. • first reason is if India goes to war with another country.

• . Second is external aggression if a country attacks India.
• And the third reason is if there is a rebellion in the country.

The last two emergencies 1962 and 1971 were declared in India based on the reasons for war. But for this emergency of 1975, internal disturbances were used as a reason. 

 

Declaring The Emergency of 1975 In India:-

On 25th June 1975 Indira Gandhi consulted with some of her ministers and on their advice, sends a written note, to President fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, requesting that he declare an internal emergency in the country using the third reason of internal disturbance, and he did so on the night of 25th June. In just a few hours several opposition leaders were arrested including Moraji Desai, JP Narayan, LK Advani, and Charan Singh. 

The government cuts the power supply to the newspaper offices in Delhi that night so that no newspaper could be printed the next day. The next morning, it is announced on the radio by Indira Gandhi saying ” brothers and sisters, the President has declared an emergency. There is nothing to panic about”. 

Root Causes Of The Emergency Of 1975:-

There were several root causes and reasons actually but the High court judgment declared Indira Gandhi’s seat to be null and void, and the slogans of JP Narayan basically became the trigger point because of which the emergency was declared. 

The things which happened in the next two years were known as the darkest period of Indian democracy. The fundamental rights of people were taken away and the people continuing the protest, were arrested, and more than 100,000 innocent people were arrested. Many opposition leaders and activists go underground during this period. The elections were delayed. 

Several organizations like RSS and jamaat-e-Islami were banned. Many communist leaders were arrested. In fact, many Congress leaders who were speaking against the emergency, or Indira Gandhi were made to resign from the party position and they were also arrested.

Another scary thing at the time was the mass sterilization program, initiated by Indira Gandhi’s son Sanjay Gandhi, to reduce the population of the country, the government sterilized some men forcefully in an unsafe manner. 

An interesting fact about that there was some people’s opinion, there were some positive changes in the country as well. It is said that during the emergency, the trains were always on time and the business ran efficiently, there are some reasons why some industrialists like J R D Tata gave positive comments regarding the emergency, although later he changed his opinion.

After the Emergency in India Was Called Off:-

On 21st March 1977, the emergency was called off and the elections were held. Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi, both lose their seats and the Janta party came into power for the first time. This was the first time that a party other than congress formed a government in India. 

It’s another matter that this government doesn’t last long elections were held in 1980 and in 1980, Indira Gandhi came into power again. But this time around, her Economic policies had changed a lot. 

Recent Post:- 

The Reality of Partition of 1947 Part-2

The Reality of the partition of 1947

Comparison between Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi Ji’s Ideologies

If you are a traveler then must visit:-

 

Enjoy the best bachelorette party in Canada-2023