“The President has proclaimed emergency, this is nothing to panic about”, the words which marked the start of a dark period, also known as the Indira era but the bigger question is what led to the Era? And why is the dark period?
It started with the 1966 assembly elections when Indira Gandhi had just begun with her mainstream political career. The very next year INC lost all state elections from Punjab to West Bengal. The 1971 assembly elections were the game changer for Indira Gandhi, she contested the election on the slogan “Garibi Hatao” (meaning ‘Remove Poverty’), she promised to abolish the privy purse which was the payment made to the erstwhile princely states, and to nationalize banks.
Soon after the elections, India was at war with Pakistan, India won the war and Indira Gandhi was given the credit for it. The consecutive wins went straight to her head, she started to rule like an autocrat, so much so that INC party president Dev Kant Barooah even said that “India is Indira and Indira is India”. In 1972, she dissolved the state assemblies of Punjab, Haryana, and Bihar to contest by-elections, which eventually were won by INC.
The Supreme Court imposed a stay on the bills regarding the abolishment of privy purses and nationalization of banks, thus resulting in the 24th and 25th Amendments of the Constitution. The 24th Amendment stated that the Parliament can change any part of the constitution even if it disturbs the basic structure of the constitution. The 25th Amendment was passed to overturn the orders of the supreme court on the abolishment of privy purse and nationalization of banks. These amendments were challenged which led to the famous Kesavananda Bharati case. In 1973, the Supreme Court passed a verdict which said that the Parliament cannot change the basic structure of the constitution.
After this Indira Gandhi decided to take control over the judiciary as well, she appointed a puppet as the Chief Justice of the nation, hence Justice Ajit Nath Ray was made the chief justice superseding three of his seniors. Indira Gandhi was so busy in making her political career that she forgot to fulfill the promises made to the people. In 1973, corruption was at its peak and the prices of everyday goods saw a sudden rise, this led to protests. On 20th December, students of LD engineering college in Gujarat carried out a protest against corruption, price hike, and hoarding of grains, naming the protest as “Nav Nirman Andolan”. During the protests around 100 people were killed by the police forces. The Chief Minister resigned and the Janata party took over.
The protests in Gujarat encouraged students in Bihar to protest against the government, on the 18th of March protestors surrounded the Legislative Assembly, the police opened fire and killed 12 students. The protestors then requested Jai Prakash Narayan to join the movement, JP joined the protest but on one condition, that the protest would be non-violent. The protests went on but Indira Gandhi paid no attention to it.
In 1971, Indira Gandhi had contested the assembly elections and was elected as a member of parliament from Rai Bareily and the representative of the Communist Party from Rai Bareily filed a case against Indira Gandhi as one of the 7 petitions that were filed against her in the Allahabad High Court. The allegation was that she used the resources of the state to organize campaigns, which is a criminal offense. On 12th June 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha passed the verdict in which he convicted Indira of using the state’s resources for election purposes, hence the elections were declared null and void, and Indira Gandhi was barred from contesting elections for the next 6 years.
On 25th June, Jai Prakash Narayan organized a mass protest in the Ram Leela Maidan, Delhi with 5 lakh people and JP gave the slogan, “Singhasan Khali Karo Janta aati hai”. Using the protest as an excuse Indira Gandhi wrote a letter to the president, informing him about the possible outcomes which can cause internal conflicts leading to imminent danger, and suggesting he impose military rule under article 352 of the constitution. Political rivals of Indira Gandhi like Morarji Desai and Jai Prakash Narayan were arrested. Emergency was imposed, censorship came as a bonus reward.