THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRATIC ORDER

1. Background to Emergency

• There is tension between the government and the judiciary.
• The Supreme Court found many initiatives of the government to violate the constitution.
• The Congress party criticized that the court was a conservative institution and became an obstacle to implementing pro-poor welfare programmes.
• The opposition criticized that the government authority was being converted into personal authority.
• The split in the Congress had sharpened the divisions between Indira Gandhi and her opponents.

2. Economic context

• Congress gave a slogan garibi hatao (remove poverty) in the 1971 election.
• The social and economic conditions in the country did not change even in 1971-72.
• The Bangladesh crisis had put a heavy strain on India’s economy.
• Migration from Bangladesh, war with Pakistan, hike in oil prices in international markets and halt in US government aid, led to 23 per cent inflation in 1973 and 30 per cent in 1974.
• Industrial growth was low and unemployment was very high.
• Monsoons failed in 1972-73 resulting in a decline in agricultural productivity.
• Naxalite activities increased and they were strong in West Bengal, the state government took stringent measures to suppress them.

3. Gujarat and Bihar movements

• In January 1974 students in Gujarat started an agitation against inflation and corruption had an impact on the politics of the two States and national politics.
• It led to the imposition of the President’s rule in the state.
• The opposition parties demanded fresh elections to the state legislature.
•  Morarji Desai, a prominent leader of Congress (O), announced that he would go on an indefinite fast if fresh elections were not held in the State.
• The assembly elections were held in Gujarat in June 1975. Congress was defeated in this election.
• In March 1974 students came together in Bihar to protest against rising prices, food scarcity, unemployment and corruption.
• Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), who had given up active politics and was involved in social work, led the student movement.
• He accepted it on the condition that the movement would remain non-violent and would not limit itself to Bihar.
• Thus the students’ movement assumed a political character and had national appeal.
• People from all walks of life now entered the movement.
• Jayaprakash Narayan demanded the dismissal of the Congress government in Bihar and gave a call for a total revolution in the social, economic and political spheres to establish what he considered to be a true democracy.
• A series of bandhs, gheraos, and strikes were organised in protest against the Bihar government. The government refused to resign.
• The employees of the Railways gave a call for a nationwide strike.
•  In 1975, JP led a people’s march to the Parliament.
• This was one of the largest political rallies ever held in the capital.
• He was now supported by the non-Congress opposition parties that were projecting JP as an alternative to Indira Gandhi.
• There were many criticisms about his ideas and about the politics of mass agitations that he was employing.

4. Conflict with Judiciary

Three constitutional issues emerged

1. Can parliament abridge the constitution? The Supreme Court said it cannot.
2. Can the Parliament curtail the right to property by making an amendment? Again, the Court said that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution in such a manner that rights are curtailed.
3. The Parliament amended the Constitution saying that it can abridge Fundamental Rights for giving effect to Directive Principles. But the Supreme Court rejected this provision also.

Kesavananda Bharati Case in 1973: The Court gave a decision that there are some basic features of the Constitution and the Parliament cannot amend these features. The government set aside the seniority of three judges and appointed Justice A. N. Ray as the Chief Justice of India. The appointment became politically controversial because all the three judges who were superseded had given rulings against the stand of the government.

5. 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.
• The petition challenged the election of Indira Gandhi because she had used the services of government servants in her election campaign.
• The judgment of the High Court meant that legally she was no longer an MP and therefore, could not remain the Prime Minister unless she was once again elected as an MP within six months.
•  On June 24, the Supreme Court granted her a partial stay on the high court order- till her appeal was decided she could remain. MP but could not take part in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.

Crisis and Response

• Jayaprakash Narayan pressed for Indira Gandhi’s resignation and organised a massive demonstration on Delhi’s Ramlila grounds on 25 June 1975.
• Jayaprakash announced a nationwide Satyagraha for her resignation.
• He asked the army, the police and government employees not to obey “illegal and immoral orders”.

The government was to declare a state of emergency

• On 25 June 1975, the government declared that there was a threat of internal disturbances and therefore, it invoked Article 352 of the Constitution.
• Under the provision of this article, the government could declare a state of emergency on grounds of external threat or a threat of internal disturbances.
• The crisis had arisen which proclaimed a state of emergency necessary.
• Our Constitution provides for some special powers to the government once an emergency is declared.
• The federal distribution of powers remains practically suspended and all the powers are concentrated in the hands of the union government.
• Power to curtail or restrict all or any of the Fundamental Rights during the emergency
• From the wording of the provisions of the Constitution,
• An Emergency is seen as an extraordinary condition in which normal democratic politics cannot function. Therefore, special powers are granted to the government.
• On the night of 25 June 1975, the Prime Minister recommended the imposition of an 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

• 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 Jamiat-e-Islami. Protests strikes and public agitations were also disallowed.
• Under the provisions of the Emergency, the various Fundamental Rights of citizens stood suspended, including the right of citizens to move the Court to restore their Fundamental Rights.
• People are arrested and detained not because they have committed any offence, but on the apprehension that they may commit an offence.
• The government made large-scale arrests during the Emergency. Arrested political workers could not challenge their arrest through habeas corpus petitions.
• The government claimed that it was not even necessary to inform the arrested persons of the reasons and grounds for their arrest.
• Several High Courts gave judgments that even after the declaration of Emergency the courts could entertain a writ of habeas corpus filed by a person challenging his/her detention.
• In April 1976, the constitution bench of the Supreme Court over-ruled,
• During emergencies, the government could take away the citizen’s right to life and liberty.
• This judgment closed the doors of the judiciary for the citizens and is regarded as one of the most controversial judgments of the Supreme Court.
• 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. Many underground newsletters and leaflets were published to bypass censorship.
• Kannada writer Shivarama Karanth, awarded with Padma Bhushan, and Hindi writer Fanishwarnath Renu, awarded with Padma Shri, returned their awards in protest against the suspension of democracy.
• The Parliament also brought in many new changes to the Constitution.
• In the background of the ruling of the Allahabad High Court in the Indira Gandhi case.
• An amendment was made declaring that elections of Prime Minister, President and Vice-President could not be challenged in the Court.

The forty-second amendment was also passed during the Emergency.

1. The duration of the legislatures in the country was extended from five to six years
2. Elections can be postponed by one year.

Thus, effectively, after 1971, elections needed to be held only in 1978; instead of 1976.

6. Controversies regarding Emergency

The Constitution simply mentioned ‘internal disturbances’ as the reason for declaring an Emergency.

Shah Commission

• In May 1977, the Janata Party government appointed a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice C. Shah, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India.
• To inquire “into several aspects of allegations of abuse of authority, excesses and malpractices committed and action taken in the wake of the Emergency proclaimed on the 25^th June 1975”.
• The Commission examined various kinds of evidence and called scores of witnesses to give testimonies.
• Indira Gandhi appeared before the Commission but refused to answer any questions.
• The Government of India accepted the findings, observations and recommendations contained in the two interim reports and the third and final report of the Shah Commission.
• The reports were also tabled in the two houses of Parliament.
• Indira Gandhi's letter to the Shah Commission that subversive forces were trying to obstruct the progressive programmes of the government and were attempting to dislodge her from power through extra-constitutional means.
• CPI believed that there was an international conspiracy against the unity of India. The CPI made an error in supporting the Emergency.
• The government said that it wanted to use the Emergency to bring law and order, restore efficiency, and above all, implement the pro-poor welfare programmes.
• The twenty-point programme included land reforms, land redistribution, review of agricultural wages, workers’ participation in management, eradication of bonded labour, etc.
• 676 opposition leaders and nearly one lakh eleven thousand people were arrested under preventive detention laws.
• Sanjay Gandhi, intervention in the administration is more controversial.

7. Lessons of the Emergency

• It brought out both the weaknesses and the strengths of India’s democracy.
• ‘Internal’ Emergency can be proclaimed only on the grounds of ‘armed rebellion’ and the advice to the President to proclaim an Emergency must be given in writing by the Council of Ministers.
• Awareness was created to protect the civil liberties of individuals. This is a response to the inability of the judiciary to protect civil liberties effectively during an emergency. Many civil liberties organisations came up after this experience.
• The actual implementation of the Emergency rule took place through the police and the administration. These institutions could not function independently.
• They were turned into political instruments of the ruling party and according to the Shah Commission Report, the administration and the police became vulnerable to political pressures. This problem did not vanish after the Emergency.

8. Politics after Emergency

Lok Sabha Elections, 1977: In January 1977, after eighteen months of Emergency, the government decided to hold elections. The people’s verdict was decisively against the Emergency.

Legacy: Since 1969, the Congress party had started shedding its character as an umbrella party which accommodated leaders and workers of different ideological dispensations and viewpoints. The issue of the welfare of the backward castes also began to dominate politics in 1977.