In the year 1975,
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
declared an Emergency throughout the country. For the next 2 years, the
Fundamental Rights of the people get suspended. Several opposition leaders get
jailed.
And this part of history is considered a black mark tarnishing Indian democracy.
But what were the exact reasons for declaring an Emergency?
Why was it done? And why is it considered so terrifying?
"The President has proclaimed Emergency. This is nothing
to panic about." "It's a revolution, friends. A full-fledged
revolution." "Darkest period in India's history..." "A dark
day..." "A black day." "Our only focus right now is to maintain
a peaceful and stable environment." 1975 was not the first time an Emergency was declared in the country. Before
this, during the 1962 Indo-China war, and during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war as
well an Emergency was declared. Although the emergency declared in 1975 was
different from the other two. Because it wasn't due to war or any one reason. There
were multiple events.
There were several sequences of events whose outcome, was this 1975 Emergency. This sequence of events actually began in 1969. When the Congress Party was in power and the Fourth Five Year Plan was being implemented. In 1969 the Congress Party decided that 14 private banks would be nationalised. It meant that the Government would take ownership of those banks from the private companies.
Imagine that you are an owner of a company, or you have purchased the shares of a company and suddenly the government says that from the next day, the company would belong to the government. All your money would be wiped out. Obviously, you wouldn't be happy with the decision.
Several businessmen like J.R.D. Tata, investors and shareholders opposed the decision of nationalisation. On 18th July 1969, the government decided to pass it through an Ordinance. But soon the government realised that the Parliament session was due to begin on 21st July. And the President was due to leave his office on the 20th. So the Ordinance was drafted in a hurry, and almost overnight, it is signed by the President before the Parliament session began. You can clearly see how important this policy was considered by Indira Gandhi for the welfare of the country. The justification from Indira Gandhi was that if the banks would get nationalised, then the banks could reach everywhere in the country, and could provide their services to even the poorest citizen. Something a for-profit company may never do because they think of profits first. Basically, it's about socialism versus capitalism and their advantages and disadvantages.
But obviously, as I told you, the shareholders of the banks weren't happy with this decision at all. Then, there was a bank Central Bank of India. And one of its shareholders was R.C. Cooper. He approached the Supreme Court regarding this decision. And he had a small victory in the Supreme Court. The court declared that the law enacted by the government, was discriminating against the 14 banks which were nationalised. And that it was very unfair to the shareholders. And so the Ordinance gets rejected by the Court. Here begin the battles of the Indira Gandhi government versus Courts.
I would like to ask you a question. What do you think, in a democracy, in our country who is more powerful between the Legislative and the Judiciary?
Or in your opinion, who should be more powerful?
If there is a conflict between the two, who will win this conflict? It doesn't have a simple answer. Because throughout history, both have tried to overpower each other. And often, in quite unbelievable ways. When the Supreme Court rejected the Ordinance of the Indira Gandhi government, the government brought in a new amendment to the Constitution the next year. And this amendment, reversed the Supreme Court's judgement, the Supreme Court's decision. A few years later, there was a similar case between the Indira Gandhi government and the Supreme Court. Regarding the Privy Purse. Friends, Privy Purse used to be a payment given to the royal families of the Princely States in India. It was practised at one point because when the government united all the Princely States to form India in 1947, then a condition was laid down that their ruling families would be given a payment by the Indian government. But Indira Gandhi did not like these payments. So her government introduced a Bill to abolish Privy Purse.
But this Bill, couldn't be passed in the Rajya Sabha. That's why the government came up with a new technique. They came out with the proclamation that the Princely States would cease to be recognised as such. It meant that there would be no more ruling families in the country. That's why Privy Purse would not be needed. Once again the matter reached the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court declared this proclamation null and void. You can guess what happened after this. The Indira Gandhi government added another Constitutional Amendment, that clearly stated that the Privy Purse would be abolished for the ruling families, and the judgement of the Court was thus reversed.
This happened in 1971. An interesting fun fact about this, the royal families were obviously quite angered by this decision then, so they thought to protest against this decision, by running for elections. The Nawab of Pataudi at the time was Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Father of the Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan. He contested elections from Gurgaon, but he couldn't even get 5% of the votes. On the other hand, another royal family, Vijaya Raje Scindia and her son Madhavrao Scindia contested elections, and they won the 1971 elections. And you'd see that the Scindia family is involved in politics even today.
I'm telling you about these Court versus Government battles because these were the events that finally influenced the decision of declaring an Emergency. Coming to the year 1971, this was the year when Indira Gandhi won the elections again. And this time becomes a very dominant Prime Minister. Under her, centralisation of power was evident. And it is said that the Cheif Ministers of the various states and the cabinet ministers, were being selected by Indira Gandhi based on who was favoured by her. An accusation that is being levied on Prime Minister Narendra Modi nowadays. That the Cheif Ministers of the various BJP states are basically puppets in his hand. They are not given much power. And the Prime Minister selects them based on whom he favours.
1971 was also the year when the India-Pakistan war took place. It had a terrible impact on the Indian economy. Inflation rose. The prices of essential commodities increased rapidly. At the same time, the Congress Party had become so powerful that corruption had crept into it. The Principal Secretary of Indira Gandhi had pointed it out himself. The corruption in the State Governments was worse. In 1974, the Cheif Minister of Gujrat was Chimanbhai Patel. A major scam involving him surfaced. People started calling him 'Chiman Chor (Theif)' in Gujrat. People came out on the roads to protest. Students protested. Busses were burned. Shops were looted. And the police were attacked. It is known as the Navnirman Movement.
This was a strong demand from the people of Gujrat to dissolve the then state government. Indira Gandhi was left with no other choice, so she dissolved the state government. But friends, this was only the beginning. One year prior to this, in 1973, there was a terrible international oil crisis. Because of this, by 1974, crude oil prices went up by 300%. Once again, the common people are affected. And a devastating inflation and price rise is seen. In the same year, a movement similar to the one in Gujrat began in Bihar by students. It was led by J.P. Narayan. Non-violent protests were held against the corruption of the Congress government and the dissolution of the Bihar government is demanded. Another leader George Fernandes carries out a 3-day-long railway strike. For demanding better working conditions and better salary for the railway workers. More than 1.7 million workers protested in it. And it became the largest industrial strike in the world at the time.
- FULL PAY; FULL WORK
- IF NOT; NO WORK.
- PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING THEIR HEART
- MAKING INDIRA'S THRONE SHUDDER.
These were some of the slogans from
that protest. A year passed, but Indira Gandhi did not soften. Like she
dissolved the Gujrat State Government because of the pressure, she doesn't do
so in Bihar. In fact, she claims that the movements were trying to end
democracy. Calling them 'Foreign-funded anti-national movements.' But the
protests continue. Constant strikes, devastating inflation, price rise,
unending protests and allegations of corruption. You can imagine the state of
the country in 1975. As if all of these weren't enough. In March 1975, Indira
Gandhi gets another shock from the Allahabad High Court. The thing was that for
the previous 2 years there was an ongoing case against Indira Gandhi in the
Allahabad High Court. This case was filed by a socialist election candidate Raj
Narain. He had contested the elections against Indira Gandhi in 1971. From the
same seat of Raibareilly in Uttar Pradesh. Raj Narain was also an Indian
Freedom Fighter. But he is more popularly known for this case against Indira
Gandhi. Raj Narain accused Indira Gandhi directly that she won her seat in the
election using unfair means. That she had manipulated the ballots. 14 crimes
were reported against Indira Gandhi.
But you will be shocked to know that
she was convicted for only 2 of those crimes by the court.
The first crime was using the UP
Government to build a huge stage to give her speech. And the second crime was
that her election agent Yashpal Kapoor was a government employee even at the
time of the elections. Which was wrong. Because of these 2 crimes, the court
declared Indira Gandhi's Lok Sabha seat as Null and Void. And Indira Gandhi was
removed from the Lok Sabha. Then the newspaper printed as if the decision of
the court had basically unseated the Prime Minister from her seat. because of a
traffic ticket violation. Basically, they were saying that the crime was
insignificant and the consequence of it was disproportionately large. Because this
decision was taken by the Allahabad High Court, Indira Gandhi moved the Supreme
Court to appeal this judgement. The opposition exploited this opportunity. They
took to the roads to demand that the 'corrupt Prime Minister' should resign. Moraji
Desai said that a do-or-die movement was beginning against Congress. The
decision by Allahabad High Court had come on 12th June 1975, and what happened
after 24th June, was no less than a filmy drama, friends. On that day, Indira
Gandhi's appeal was heard in the Supreme Court. And the judges said that all
her privileges can be withdrawn. That she may not vote or contest an election
for the next 6 years. But she could remain the Prime Minister till the next
hearing. After the court's statement, there was an uproar on the streets. The
intensity of the protests of the opposition increased further.
"Long live the Revolution!"
Some Congress leaders started protesting in favour of Indira
Gandhi.
"Long live Indira Gandhi!"
The rallies being taken out against Indira Gandhi, one of those rallies was led by JP Narayan. He urged the students to come out and protest. He urged the people to stop obeying the police and the told the police and armed forces the Indian Army, the Indian Airforce, that they refuse the orders by the government. This was a kind of civil disobedience. But are you reminded of another word by its description? Internal Disturbance.
If you read Article 352 of the Indian Constitution, it states that an emergency can be declared by the President of India if India's security is threatened by "war or external aggression or internal disturbance." Meaning that in India, an emergency can be declared for 3 reasons. The first reason is if India goes on a war with another country. The second reason is external aggression. If a country attacks India. And the third reason is if there is a rebellion in the country. The last 2 emergencies being declared in India, was based on the reason of war. But for this emergency of 1975 the internal disturbance was used as a reason. On 25th June 1975, Indira Gandhi consulted with some of her ministers and on their advice, sends a written note, to the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, requesting that he declare an internal Emergency in the country. Using the third reason of internal disturbance. And he does so, on the night of 25th June.
Within a few hours, several opposition leaders were arrested including Moraji Desai, JP Narayan, LK Advani and Charan Singh. The government cuts the power supply to the newspaper offices in Delhi that night. So that no newspaper could be printed the next day. The next morning, it is announced on the radio by Indira Gandhi. So there were several root causes and reasons actually. But this High Court judgement declaring Indira Gandhi's seat to be null and void, and the slogans of JP Narayan, basically became the trigger point because of which the emergency was declared. Or you may say that they become the excuses for Indira Gandhi, for justifying declaring an emergency.
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