National Emergency

The President can declare such an emergency only on the basis of a written request
by the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister.
The state of emergency expires after one month unless approved within that time by
both houses sitting and voting separately. However, if the Lok Sabha (the lower house)
is not in session when the state of emergency is declared, and the Rajya Sabha
approves of the state of emergency, the deadline for the Lok Sabha is extended until
thirty days after that house convenes.
According to Article 352(6), approval by each house requires a special majority:
those in favour of the motion must be two thirds of those present and voting, and
amount to a majority of the entire membership of that house.
A Parliamentary resolution extends the state of emergency for up to six months, and
it can be extended indefinitely by further resolutions in six-monthly increments.

State Emergency

During a national emergency, many Fundamental Rights of Indian citizens can be

suspended. The six freedoms under Right to Freedom are automatically suspended. By
contrast, the Right to Life and Personal Liberty cannot be suspended according to the
original Constitution.
A state emergency is declared on failure of constitutional machinery in a state.
Nearly every state in India has been under a state of emergency at some point of time
or the other. The state of emergency is commonly known as 'President's Rule'.
If the President is satisfied,that the governance in a state cannot be carried out
according to the provisions in the Constitution, he may declare an emergency in the
state. Such an emergency must be approved by the Parliament within a period of two
months.
It is imposed for an initial period of six months and can last for a maximum period
of three years with repeated parliamentary approval every six months.
Originally, the maximum period of operation of state emergency was 3 years. This 3-
year period was divided into 1 year of ordinary period and 2 years of extra ordinary
period for which certain conditions are to be fulfilled. Therefore from now on after
every 1 year Parliament needs to approve the same.

Financial Emergency

If the President is satisfied that there is an economic situation in which the financial
stability or credit of India is threatened, he or she can declare financial emergency.
Such an emergency must be approved by the Parliament within two months. Such a
 situation had arisen but was avoided by putting the gold assets of India as collateral for
foreign credit.
In case of a financial emergency, the President can reduce the salaries of all
government officials, including judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.
All money bills passed by the State legislatures are submitted to the President for his
approval. He can direct the state to observe certain principles (economy measures)
relating to financial matters; but fundamental rights cannot be suspended.

THE EMERGENCY OF 1975

The Reason:
Indira Gandhi's conflict with Judiciary can be considered as an important cause for
proclamation of emergency. There were a series of judgments by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of
India which did not favour Mrs. Gandhi. E.g. Golaknath case, Kesvananda Bharati v. State of
Kerala Case, et al.

The most important judgment of them was that of State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain. This
judgment held Indira Gandhi's liable for indulging in corrupt practises to win her Lok
Sabha seat from U.P. Nitish Raj, Student of Law at JGU

Written Apr 5, 2016

Judiciary

12 June 1975, Justice Sinha of Allahabad High court while listening to plea of Raj Narayan
founded Indira Gandhi guilty for unfair means in By elections. In his judgement, he refrained
Indira Gandhi from holding any official post for next 6 years.

But, she took a stay order on this judgement from Supreme Court which said she can continue as
P.M. but won't have right to vote in Parliament.

J.P. called it manipulation done by Indira Gandhi and once again stood up with the call of " Total
Revolution" but this time he took extreme steps as he declared Civil Disobedience Movement "
against Central Government. Under it, he appealed to the people to establish parallel government
and he also appealed to defense forces not to listen to the orders of Govt. as the government was
illegal .

On 23rd June, while addressing people in Delhi, he decided to start an All Inida Movement
against Indira Gandhi but befre J.P. could come into action, on

25th June 1975, Indira Gandhi declared internal emergency in India.

Ankit Kumar, Indian by birth, Indian by heart

Written Apr 5, 2016
The second step was the 'Total Revolution' initiated by Jayaprakash Narayan who
demended the resignation of Indira after the Allahbad High Court gave it's verdict. it
was on the same day, June 25, that JP declared the nationwide plan of daily demonstrations in
every state capital.

The police, army and the people were asked to follow the Constitution than Indira Gandhi. The
emergency is regarded as the outcome of a systematic failure as India was facing social, economic
and political crisisVishal Medida, 'Proud' to be born an Indian

Written Aug 16, 2015

After all the reasons were put out, it was assumed that Mrs. Gandhi was blinded by
power and imposed the emergency to safeguard her own political and personal
interests.

Arrests:

Gandhi invoked Article 352 of the Indian Constitution which gave her extraordinary powers. She
used that power to influence police forces to detain protestors and strike leaders. Some of the
prominent leaders were JP, Vijayaraje Scindia, Morarji Desai, Jivatram kripalani,
LK Advani and many more. After the first round of arrests, the remaining political workers
went underground still continuing their protests. Not only that, there were reports of protestors
who were under detention being tortured to deathVishal Medida, 'Proud' to be born an
Indian

Written Aug 16, 2015

Arrests[edit]

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, Satyendra
Narayan Sinha, Gayatri Devi, the dowager queen of Jaipur[11] and other protest leaders were
immediately arrested. Organizations 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.

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, over-ruled all of them, upholding the state's plea for
power to detain a person without the necessity of informing him of the reasons/grounds of 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').[12][13] Many political workers who were not arrested in the first
wave, went 'underground' continuing organising protests. [14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(India)

Elections:

State and parliamentary elections were postponed.

Laws, human rights and elections[edit]

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." [15]

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[16] cannot be made by the Parliament. (see Kesavananda Bharati v. State
of Kerala)[17]

In the Rajan case, P. Rajan of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was arrested by the
police in Kerala on 1 March 1976,[18] 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.[19][20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(India)

Sterilisation:

The emergency gave immense power not only in Indira's hand but also her son, Sanjay Gandhi.
He performed atrocity of sterlisation. Covered with a blanket of 'family planning', the process was
supposed to be voluntary. But as it turned out, there were reports where unmarried, old and in
some cases opponents were forced to get streilized.

Media:

The fourth estate of democracy, the media suffered immensely under Emergency.
Severe censorship was imposed on newspaper, television and radio as well. Except the
Indian Express, nobody had the guts to defy the censorship orders.
The first edition of the Indian Express after the imposition of emergency consisted
of a blank page instead of editorial.
The Financial Express had Rabindranath Tagore's poem, "Where the
mind is without fear, and the head is held high".
Gandhi also made it a point to replace the Information and Broadcast minster IK
Gujral with Vidya Charan Shukla. But the irony was, porn was looked over but not
politics.
Law:

During the Emergency, Gandhi took to the liberty of rewriting the laws since her
party had two thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.
Indira Gandhi felt that the existing laws were too slow and hence got the president
to pass an ordinance which allowed Gandhi to rule by decree.
Gandhi amended the Constitution such that it exonerated her from any charges in
the election-fraud case. She also made sure that there was president's rule in the states
where the government was anti- Gandhi.
The 42nd amendment is considered to be one of the lasting legacies of the
emergency.

Criticism against the Government[edit]

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

Detention of people by police without charge or notification of families

Abuse and torture of detainees and political prisoners

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

During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi asked the popular singer Kishore Kumar to sing
for a Congress party rally in Bombay, but he refused.[29] 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.[30][31]

Forced sterilisation.

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

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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(India)

How was the life of the common people in India

affected by the emergency imposed by Indira
Gandhi?
Satish Thota, works at Cognizant
Written Jun 25, 2015

Below are the effects of Emergency on "COMMON MAN" in India.

Fundamental Rights of "COMMON MAN":

The fundamental rights of each individual was brutally killed.
Article 358 states that as soon as proclamation of National Emergency is made, all of six
Fundamental Rights (FRs) under Article 19 (such as freedom of speech or expression)
are automatically suspended and no separate order is required.
It means nothing in Article 19 restricts power of state to make any law or take any
executive action

Sterilization:
The most controversial aspects of the Gandhi regime during this period is the forcibly
carried out sterilization programs conducted by Sanjay Gandhi
Countless Indians (read as "COMMON MAN") were forced to undergo family planning
operations, regardless of their wishes.

Justice:
Changes in 42nd Amendment limited the COMMON MAN's access to the Supreme Court

Elections:
State and parliamentary elections were postponed. A "COMMON MAN" cannot elect his
ruler. If the say RG is your leader, we (COMMON MAN) have to nod our head and say
Zindabad.

Media:
It would take 10 pages to write about censorship and restrictions on media. To talk about
how "COMMON MAN" effected, THEY ARE FED WITH FALSE NEWS. Made to believe
that everything is Perfect.
They say "X" is perfect, you (COMMON MAN) have NO CHOICE but to believe "X" is
Best. You (COMMON MAN) have no access to any other news source to know the real
picture.

And this, my friends, described by some as "Golden Period" of independent India. PITY!
Google it and you will ONLY see Emergency is THE DARKEST PERIOD in the
HISTORY of India. Its worse than British Rule. English at least let people of India
(COMMON MAN) fight for Independence.

Increasing government control of the judiciary[edit]

In the 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 judiciaryexecutive 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.
Raythe senior most judge amongst those in the minority in Kesavananda BharatiChief
Justice of India. Ray superseded three judges more senior to himJ. M. Shelat, K.S. Hegde and
Groverall 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").

Political unrest[edit]

During 197375, political unrest against the Indira Gandhi government increased across the
country. (This led some Congress party leaders to demand for a move towards a presidential
system, 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
1975, Gandhi's party was defeated by the Janata alliance, formed by parties opposed to the
ruling Congress party.

In MarchApril 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 organisations 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 strike. This strike
was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government, which arrested thousands of
employees and drove their families out of their quarters.

Even within parliament, the government faced much criticism. Ever since she took charge as
Prime Minister in 1966, Indira Gandhi 's government had to face ten no-confidence motions in
the Lok Sabha.[7]

Raj Narain verdict[edit]

See also: State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain

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 Jagmohanlal 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 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".
However, strikes in trade, student and government unions swept across the country. Led by JP,
Narain, Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Morarji Desai, protestors flooded the streets of Delhi close
to the Parliament building and 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. 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.

Why is the National Emergency of 1975 seen as

one of the most controversial times in the History

of India?

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26 Answers

Balaji Viswanathan, History buff.

Updated Jul 18, 2014

1970s was the saddest time for many democracies all over the world. Amidst high

inflation, unemployment and middleast crisis, democracies across the world grappled

with plenty of existential crises. In the US, Nixon & Agnew were threatening the

foundation of US democracy by outright rigging & corruption. Both the President and

Vice President were forced to exit in a period of a couple of years.

At the exact same time, India faced a much bigger existential threat under the worst of

the tyrants. As her political position weakened, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi brought

out a slew of constitutional amendments that threatened the foundation of Indian

democracy.

1. Constitutional Amendment 24 of 1971 allowed the Parliament to dilute

the fundamental rights by amendments to the constitution (a meta
amendment). This was in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling that stated that
fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution cannot be altered.
2. Amendment 25 of 1972 allowed the suspension of the right to private
property allowing the government to take over anybody's property.

But, the worst was yet to come.

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. Amendment 39 of 1975 allowed an Indian Prime Minister to ignore the

courts. Thus, the Allahabad High Court order was rendered invalid.
2. 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.
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.
4. Censorship on newspapers was imposed. No one was allowed to write
against the government.

5. Dismissed more than 8 state governments on a single day (29th April 1977)
that were against Ms. Gandhi. President's rule
6. Forcible sterilization/family planning done on many people. In fact,
this got her rule into trouble more than any of the constitutional amendments.
7. Amendment 42 of 1977 significantly changed the nature of Indian
constitution. It changed over a dozen articles and added "socialist secular"
words to the Indian preamble.