CRISIS OF

DEMOCRATIC ORDER
ROHANA KHER
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Background to
Emergency
The opposing parties perceived a
transformation of government authority
into personal authority.
Indira Gandhi had risen to prominence as a leader. This The Congress's split has exacerbated the
was also a period of intense party struggle, with schism between Indira Gandhi and her
growing tensions between the executive and judiciary. opponents.
Numerous government measures were judged to be
constitutional violations by the Supreme Court. The
Congress party argued that the Court's position was
contrary to democratic and legislative supremacy
norms and was obstructing the implementation of
pro-poor welfare programmes.
 Economic Impact
In the elections of 1971, Congress had given the
slogan of garibi hatao (remove poverty). However,
There was also an increase in the activities of
the social and economic condition in the country did
Marxist groups who did not believe in
not improve much after 1971-72 due to several
parliamentary politics. These groups had taken to
national and international factors. After the war with
arms and insurgent techniques for the overthrow
pakistan, the U.S government stopped all aid to
of the capitalist order and the established
India. In the international market, oil prices
political system. Known as the Marxist-Leninist
increased manifold during this period. This led to an
(now Maoist) groups or Naxalites
all-round increase in prices of commodities Such a
high level of inflation caused much hardship to the
people. Monsoons failed in 1972-1973. This resulted
in a sharp decline in agricultural productivity. Food
grain output declined by 8 per cent. In such a context
non-Congress opposition parties were able to
organise popular protests effectively.
 Gujarat and Bihar Movements
● Led by Jay Prakash Narayan in March
● Gujarat movement was started by agitated students
1974, against rising prices and food
against the rising prices of essential commodities and
scarcity.
corruption.
● He accepted it on the condition that the
● Movement was also joined by major opposition parties.
movement will remain non-violent and
● As as result, presidents rule was imposed in the state.
will not limit itself to Bihar.
● The opposition parties demanded fresh elections to the
● Jayaprakash Narayan demanded the
state legislature. Morarji Desai, a prominent leader of
dismissal of the Congress government
Congress (O), who was the main rival of Indira Gandhi
in Bihar and gave a call for total
when he was in the Congress, announced that he would
revolution in the social, economic and
go on an indefinite fast if fresh elections were not held in
political spheres in order to establish
the State.
what he considered to be true
● Under intense pressure from students, supported by the
democracy
opposition political parties, assembly elections were held
● A series of bandhs, gehraos, and strikes
in Gujarat in June 1975. The Congress was defeated in this
were organised in protest against the
election.
Bihar government. The government,
however, refused to resign
 ● The Naxalite movement has used force to snatch
The Naxalite land from the rich landowners and give it to the
poor and the landless. Its supporters advocated the
use of violent means to achieve their political goals.

Movement ● In spite of the use of preventive detention and

other strong measures adopted by the West Bengal
government run by the Congress party, the Naxalite
movement did not come to an end.
● The Naxalite movement has by now splintered into
● In 1967 a peasant uprising took place in the various parties and organisations. Some of these
Naxalbari police station area of Darjeeling hills parties, like the CPI – ML (Liberation) participate in
district in West Bengal under the leadership of open, democratic politics..
the local cadres of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist).
● Beginning from the Naxalbari police station, the
peasant movement spread to several states of
India and came to be referred broadly as the
Naxalite movement. In 1969, they broke off from
the CPI (M) and a new party, Communist Party
(Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), was formed under
the leadership of Charu Majumdar
 Railway strike of 1974.
The National Coordination Committee for Railwaymen’s Struggle led
by George Fernandes gave a call for nationwide strike by all employees
of the Railways for pressing their demands related to bonus and
service conditions. The government was opposed to these demands.
So, the employees of India’s largest public sector undertaking went on
a strike in May 1974. The strike by the Railway employees added to the
atmosphere of labour unrest. It also raised issues like rights of the
workers and whether employees of essential services should adopt
measures like strikes. The government declared the strike illegal. As
the government refused to concede the demands of the striking
workers, arrested many of their leaders and deployed the territorial
army to protect railway tracks, the strike had to be called off after
twenty days without any settlement.
 ● The appointment became politically
Conflict with controversial because all the three judges
who were superseded had given rulings
Judiciary ●
against the stand of the government.
Thus, constitutional interpretations and
political ideologies were getting mixed up
rapidly.
● 1970s witnessed a bitter relationship between legislature ● People close to the Prime Minister started
and judiciary. talking of the need for a judiciary and the
● Constitutional Amendment and its interpretation was a bureaucracy ‘committed’ to the vision of the
pivotal point of bitter relations. executive and the legislature.
● Two developments further added to the tension between the ● The climax of the confrontation was of
judiciary and the executive. Immediately after the Supreme course the ruling of the High Court
Court’s decision in 1973 in the Keshavananda Bharati case, a declaring Indira Gandhi’s election invalid.
vacancy arose for the post of the Chief Justice of India. It had
been a practice to appoint the senior-most judge of the
Supreme Court as the Chief Justice.
 ARTICLE 352

Security of india is threatened by war or external aggression or

armed by rebellion may be made before the actual occurrence
of war or any such aggression if president is satisfied that
there
 Declaration of emergency

On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the

Allahabad High Court passed a judgment declaring
Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha invalid.
This order came on an election petition filed by Raj
Narain, a socialist leader and a candidate who had
contested against her in 1971.
 Crisis and response
Jayaprakash Narayan pressed for Indira Gandhi’s resignation and organised a massive demonstration in
Delhi’s Ramlila grounds on 25 June 1975. Jayaprakash announced a nationwide satyagraha for her
resignation and asked the army, the police and government employees not to obey “illegal and immoral
orders”.
Jayaprakash Narayan pressed for Indira Gandhi’s resignation and organised a massive demonstration in
Delhi’s Ramlila grounds on 25 June 1975. Jayaprakash announced a nationwide satyagraha for her
resignation and asked the army, the police and government employees not to obey “illegal and immoral
orders” On the night of 25 June 1975, the Prime Minister recommended the imposition of Emergency to
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. He issued the proclamation immediately. After midnight, the electricity
to all the major newspaper offices was disconnected. In the early morning, a large number of leaders and
workers of the opposition parties were arrested. The Cabinet was informed about it at a special meeting at
6 a.m. on 26 June, after all this had taken place.
 Consequences
Consequences This brought the agitation to an abrupt stop; strikes were banned; many
opposition leaders were put in jail; the political situation became very quiet though tense.
Deciding to use its special powers under emergency provisions, the government suspended
the freedom of the Press. Newspapers were asked to get prior approval for all material to be
published. This is known as press censorship. Apprehending social and communal
disharmony, the government banned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and
Jamait-e-Islami. Protests and strikes and public agitations were also disallowed. Most
importantly, under the provisions of emergency, the various Fundamental Rights of citizens
stood suspended, including the right of citizens to move the Court for restoring their
fundamental rights. Using preventive detention acts, the government made large scale
arrests during the emergency. Arrested political workers could not challenge their arrest
through habeas corpus petitions. went ‘underground’ and organised protests against the
government. Newspapers like the Indian Express and the Statesman protested against
censorship by leaving blank spaces where news items had been censored. Magazines like the
Seminar and the Mainstream chose to close down rather than submit to censorship. Many
journalists were arrested for writing against the Emergency.
 Controversies regarding Emergency
Emergency is one of the most controversial episodes in Indian politics. One
reason is that there are differing viewpoints about the need to declare
emergency. Another reason is that using the powers given by the Constitution,
the government practically suspended the democratic functioning. As the
investigations by the Shah Commission after the emergency found out, there
were many ‘excesses’ committed during the emergency.
 Was the emergency necessary?
The Constitution simply mentioned ‘internal disturbances’ as the reason for
declaring emergency. The government argued that in a democracy, the
opposition parties must allow the elected ruling party to govern according to
its policies. It felt that frequent recourse to agitations, protests and collective
action are not good for democracy. Some other parties, like the CPI that
continued to back the Congress during the Emergency, also believed that
there was an international conspiracy against the unity of India. It believed
that in such circumstances some restrictions on agitations were justified.
Politics after Emergency
Elections were held in March 1977. This left the opposition
with very little time, but political developments took place
very rapidly. The major opposition parties had already
been coming closer in the pre-Emergency period. Now they
came together on the eve of the elections and formed a
new party, known as the Janata Party. The Janata Party
made this election into a referendum on the Emergency. Its
campaign was focused on the nondemocratic character of
the rule and on the various excesses that took place during
this period.
The Janata Party government that came to power after the 1977 elections was far from
cohesive. After the election, there was stiff competition among three leaders for the
post of Prime Minister – Morarji Desai, who was the rival to Indira Gandhi ever since
1966-67; Charan Singh, leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal and a farmers’ leader from UP;
and Jagjivan Ram, who had vast experience as a senior minister in the Congress
governments. .The opposition to emergency could keep the Janata Party together only
for a while. Its critics felt that the Janata Party lacked direction, leadership, and a
common programme. The Janata Party government could not bring about a
fundamental change in policies from those pursued by the Congress. The Janata Party
split and the government which was led by Morarji Desai lost its majority in less than
18 months. Fresh Lok Sabha elections were held in January 1980 in which the Janata
Party suffered a comprehensive defeat, especially in north India where it had swept the
polls in 1977. Congress party led by Indira Gandhi nearly repeated its great victory in
1971. It won 353 seats and came back to power.
Moraji Desai Chaudhary Charan Singh
Lessons learnt from emergency
● It is extremely difficult to do away with democracy in india
● Necessary the advice to proclaim emergency in writing by council of
ministers
● It made everyone more aware of the value of civil liberties