, lives in India
Lets put first things first. So, in this the first thing is what’s the emergency?
Emergency is a state where your fundamental rights used to be suspended. It means that state can take any action and people have no rights to oppose the orders. During emergency, thousands of people arrested and put behind the bars without trials. The media has no rights to report. Mass sterilization were conducted. And, States policies completely implemented with the force. So, this is what emergency state is.
Emergency was declared in India for 21 months (1975-77). Fakruddin Ali Ahmad was the President & Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India.
From the starting, there was a clash between the Judiciary system and Legislative assembly of India. After independence, govt. acquired lands under their socialist policy. But, right to property was a fundamental right. So, lot of amendments made including the removal of right to property and IXth Schedule introduced under which one can’t challenge on the grounds of violation of fundamental rights. And, due to this schedule, Union of India won the case of Sajjan Singh & Shankari Prasad.
But, after 17 years, under case of I.C. Golaknath v. State of Punjab, petitioner won. Under this case, Schedule IX and many amendments challenged.
So, again a panel of judges formed and amendments made. The effect of changes was that Legislature became powerless to amend any section of the fundamental rights.
And, this verdict created a rift between judicial system and legislature of India. And, it resulted in a legal war between the two and many cases became part of this battle. Some of the famous cases were: Privy purses case, Benett Coleman Case, Bank Nationalization case, Minerva Mills case and so on.
Meanwhile, the economic situation of India was adversely affecting. And, the socialist policies of Govt. not working as desired.
And, result of it-
Eliminate Poverty started in 1971 by Indira Gandhi. She used a catchy slogan “Garibi Hatao” to win in 1971. And, the priority of Govt. to overrule some cases like Golaknath, Privy, Bank nationalization etc. And, result of it, again the constitution amended with the necessary modifications.
Meanwhile 1973-75, huge unrest took place in the economy. Strikes & lockouts were taking place. Govt. highly criticized for all this and Assemblies also influenced by such criticisms.
Then, a famous case took place- Raj Narayan vs Indira Gandhi.
This case was just like a final nail in the coffin for Indira Gandhi. This case just increased her troubles. Raj Narayan who contested against Indira Gandhi, filed cases of election malpractices against Indira Gandhi. She found guilty of the charges by the Judge of Allahabad Court. Then, she appealed but again she lost.
And, during this period, Jayprakash Narayan was campaigning against the Govt. and probably by the time Indira Gandhi thought to declare emergency to seize the fundamental rights. In fact, in her biography, there is a section which clearly mentions that she found this time as worst phase of her life and felt extremely insecure.
And, due to the adverse effects, on June 25, 1975, she declared the state of emergency throughout the nation citing the threats of national security and bad economic conditions. With its effect, arrests without trials, mass sterilization, etc took place in the economy.
After that, on March 23, 1977, state of emergency removed. Elections took place and Janta party won. But, again in 1980, Indira Gandhi won due to different thought processes and divides in Janta party.
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.
Due to these judgments, crumbling economy and the protests led by Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan and other leaders, she was forced to declare emergency in order to save her reputation from falling in abroad. She was always very particular about her image in western nations, please watch this short clip where this has also been acknowledged by Mr. Modi. And plus she also was facing stiff competition against American Prez Nixon.
Emergency has always been labelled as a period of commitment of atrocities. Sanjay Gandhi led his infamous mass sterilisation program. Rights were curtailed. All opposition leaders like Morarji Desai, L.K. Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Arun Jaitley, George Fernandes etc. were imprisoned for more than a year. Press was censored.
Many other leaders also protested in different ways. Mr. Modi used to distribute pamphlets condemning emergency in disguise of a sikh.
There is also a famous anecdote associated with Dr. Subramanian Swamy. He fled to USA to start a movement out there and since attendance was falling and if he would not have shown his presence, he would be disqualified as an M.P., he came back to India and in the attended Parliament’s session in disguise of a Sikh and during obituaries, he said democracy is also dead.
An arrest warrant was issued against Mr. Ram Jethmalani. Many lawyers including eminent jurist Mr. Nanabhoy Palkhivala and associations protested against it. RamJet also criticised Mrs. Gandhi in his lectures in USA.
All the current leaders are starts born out from emergency days. Be it from ruling party like Modi, Swamy, Jaitley, Vajpayee, Advani, et al or from opposition like George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, et al.