Revisiting a dark chapter: 50th anniversary of Emergency declaration
One of the turning points of Indian politics, the Emergency was set in motion by the Indira Gandhi government on June 25, 1975, and remained in place for 21 months till its withdrawal on March 21, 1977. The order gave Indira Gandhi, India's first woman Prime Minister, the authority to rule by decree and saw the large-scale curbing of civil liberties.
The then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed announced a nationwide state of emergency, citing 'an imminent danger to the security of India being threatened by internal disturbances,' particularly after the war with Pakistan and the liberation of Bangladesh.
It was imposed just days after Indira Gandhi was convicted by Allahabad High Court for electoral malpractice in a case filed by socialist leader Raj Narain who challenged her win from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat. The conviction led to her disqualification as an MP and Emergency allowed her to continue as Prime Minister.
The oppressive Maintenance of Internal Security Act was passed during the Emergency era. There was large-scale suspension of fundamental rights for the citizenry, detention and arrest of Opposition leaders and critics, and press censorship. The 38th Amendment Act of 1975 also made declaration of a national emergency immune to judicial review (this was later removed by the 44th Amendment Act of 1978).
In Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK under M. Karunanidhi denounced it as the 'inauguration of dictatorship.' On January 31, 1976, the Karunanidhi government was dismissed, and a wave of arrests followed. DMK leaders, including now Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, faced brutal third-degree torture in Madras Central Prison.
Emergency remained in effect till March 21, 1977, and eventually also led to a Janata Party wave in 1977 that swept the Congress out of power for the first time since Independence.
Here is a collection of stories revisiting the dark chapter in India's history.
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Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Bombay HC rejects plea claiming ‘discrepancies' during 2024 Maharashtra polls, ‘high percentage of votes after 6 pm'
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea raising concerns over alleged discrepancies in the voting process on November 20, 2024, the polling day for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, including 'unusually high percentage of votes' cast during the final minutes and after the closing hour of 6 pm. 'We have no manner of doubt that the petition is required to be summarily rejected. It is accordingly rejected. The hearing of this petition practically has taken the whole day, leaving aside our urgent cause list and for such reason it would certainly warrant dismissal with costs. However, we refrain from doing so,' the high court held. The bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Arif S Doctor passed the order on a writ plea by city resident Chetan Chandrakant Ahire who claimed that over 75 lakh votes were polled after the official voting time of 6 pm, and several discrepancies were found in over 90 constituencies where the number of votes counted did not match with those polled, and there was no transparency in the process. The high court had on Monday concluded the hearing on contentions related to the maintainability of the plea and had noted that it will pass an order on Wednesday, June 25. The plea sought directions from the court to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disclose the exact number of tokens distributed to voters after 6 pm at each polling station, and the total tokens distributed across all constituency segments. It also sought a declaration of the total votes cast and polled after 6 pm, and in the end sought that results declared by the respective returning officers (ROs) of each Assembly constituency be made 'null and void' due to non-compliance of norms and procedural lapses. The plea also sought immediate withdrawal of the election certificates issued by such ROs. Advocate Prakash Ambedkar, representing Ahire, on Monday argued that there was no transparent system for recording or verifying the authenticity of the 75 lakh votes and the ROs failed to comply with the guidelines in the ECI's 'handbook' for conducting elections and did not report discrepancies to the ECI. The bench queried whether the practice of coupons or tokens being given to those who voted beyond 6 pm was followed during the Lok Sabha elections and asked what was the difference during Assembly elections. 'Why did you not contend this during the Lok Sabha elections? Is that your case that the said practice (of giving coupons or tokens) was always available, but was not during Assembly elections? Is it a standard practice, and how was there a departure this time (Assembly elections) from earlier practice? That statement is not there in your petition. That's the whole thing,' the bench stated. Ambedkar said that while the statement concerned was not there in the petition, the apprehension was that those elected were not chosen through a free and fair election as it was manipulated with the 'deceit' by officials. 'A fraud on the Constitution cannot be allowed to remain,' Ambedkar argued, claiming that the ECI should come forward with documents to restore the shaken faith of commoners. The bench said that it was a grey area as to who got the votes polled after 6 pm. 'It may be the case that a single vote was not cast in favour of an elected candidate. How do we know? This is all uncertain.' Senior advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, representing the ECI, however, raised preliminary objection on the maintainability of the plea stating that the petitioner had no locus standi (legal standing) to approach the court, the elected candidates were not made party to the plea, and the election cannot be set aside 'behind their back'. He added that the elections were conducted as per due procedures across over 1 lakh polling booths in 288 constituencies in Maharashtra. Advocate Uday Warunjikar, representing the central government, opposed the writ plea claiming that the petitioner could have filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) as he did not contest the elections or an election petition could have been filed within 45 days since the declaration of results by a candidate, however, the said period is over.
The Print
29 minutes ago
- The Print
Rajnath, Shivraj & Javadekar. How jail term during Emergency shaped leaders of today's BJP
Caught in that net were men linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the ideological predecessor of the now-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). At the time, many of them spent months, some well over a year, in jail. A few were students, whereas others were rising leaders. All carried the imprint of that period long after their release. On 25 June 1975, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency, followed by the detention of voices across the political spectrum without any trials. The Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) became an instrument of control, granting the State sweeping powers to arrest and detain citizens without charges. New Delhi: It began with late-night arrests, blank editorial pages, and police vans stationed outside the homes of opposition leaders. Half a century later, some remain active in government and party roles. Others serve as governors or are on the margins of public life. Their recollection of jail, censorship, and resistance forms a crucial part of the institutional memory of the BJP and its claim to an anti-authoritarian legacy. Many of those arrested five decades ago now occupy some of the highest offices. Others have stepped aside, but their stories continue to echo in party narratives and commemorative events. As the Emergency completes 50 years, ThePrint revisits some of the then-jailed leaders, who, since then, have contributed to shaping the BJP, and how the experience of the Emergency years has stayed with them. L.K. Advani L.K. Advani, one of the most senior leaders arrested during the Emergency, spent over 19 months in Bengaluru Central Jail. A central figure in the Jan Sangh, he would later describe the Emergency as a moment when democratic values were under test, remembering who stood firm. Now 97 and retired, Advani remains a symbolic figure within the BJP, his jail term during the Emergency still referenced in party literature and public events. Also Read: BJP committed to RSS ideology, can't forget the mother who gave birth, says Nitin Gadkari Rajnath Singh In 1975, Rajnath Singh, a 24-year-old physics lecturer in Mirzapur and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) organiser, was arrested under MISA. He spent 18 months in jail—a period he has repeatedly described as a defining chapter in his political and personal life. The arrest deeply affected his family. Rajnath Singh's mother, already unwell, suffered a brain haemorrhage after learning the Emergency would be extended and her son would remain in jail. She was hospitalised for nearly a month and eventually passed away. Rajnath Singh could not attend the funeral. Denied parole, he was in prison when his brothers performed the last rites. The only ritual he was allowed to perform inside the jail was shaving his head. Later, Rajnath Singh was granted parole on unrelated grounds but used the time to campaign against the Emergency. His activities led to his immediate re-arrest, even before the parole period had ended. Reflecting on the ordeal, Rajnath Singh says he 'witnessed firsthand what a real dictatorship looks like'. The Emergency was a time of suspension of civil liberties, jailing of opposition leaders en masse, and wielding power without accountability, he argues. On X, Rajnath Singh's post on the Emergency reads: 'Fifty years ago, a despicable attempt tried to strangle Indian democracy through the Emergency… The manner of imposition, ignoring the Constitution, is a great example of misuse of power and dictatorship … Today, democracy is alive in India. For this, all those who struggled, went to jail, and suffered torture during the Emergency have made a huge contribution.' Now-Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh invokes the Emergency not as history but as memory, or his lived experience that forged his conviction in the constitutional order and the long struggle needed to preserve it. Bandaru Dattatreya In Hyderabad, Bandaru Dattatreya was active in the RSS and ABVP when detained under MISA. He would spend 19 months in jail. In later interviews, he has spoken about the personal cost of those days—how his mother faced social isolation but told him to stay the course. Dattatreya, now Governor of Haryana, continues to describe the Emergency as a turning point in his political awakening. Murli Manohar Joshi Then-physicist and Jan Sangh leader Murli Manohar Joshi was arrested in Uttar Pradesh. For Joshi, the Emergency was not only a political rupture but also a philosophical one—it confirmed that Indian democracy needed stronger cultural and ideological foundations. He later served as Union Minister for Human Resource Development and remains a respected voice in the Sangh Parivar. Prakash Javadekar A young ABVP worker from Pune, Prakash Javadekar's experiences from the Emergency years include hearing about media censorship from his journalist father, going to jail with hardened criminals, and starting a handwritten weekly, called Nirbhay (Fearless), inside the prison with the inmates. He was jailed for 16 months under MISA. Javadekar, who later held key Union portfolios, often describes his jail time as 'personally transformative'. He also calls the Emergency a 'murder of democracy' and says Congress has never truly apologised for it. During his imprisonment, he underwent open heart surgery in a government hospital. 'But after that, I did not get parole … On 15 August 1976, I was back in jail. That was the cruelty they showed to all,' he tells ThePrint. Explaining how the weekly was received in jail, he says, 'We used to write 20 pages … it would be a wallpaper-like thing, and we used to put it on all the walls of the different barracks. People used to rush and read everything.' Moreover, he says his father, a journalist, witnessed firsthand how the government machinery crushed press freedom: 'He came and said: 'Now, the police officer has come into the office, and unless he gives clearance, we cannot print any news.' That was the worst press … never had the press been muzzled like that,' Javadekar explains. Ravi Shankar Prasad A young law student in Patna, Ravi Shankar Prasad, came from a family steeped in Jan Sangh politics. Arrested under MISA during student protests, he spent several months in detention. Those years would later inform his career as a lawyer and legislator. He went on to become the Union law minister and remains an active MP. Also Read: Modi govt's selective embrace of RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya's ideology in policymaking Shivraj Singh Chouhan At just 17, Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended high school when the Emergency turned him from a student to a political detainee. Aligned with the JP movement, he was arrested in April 1976 after police barged into his rented room in Bhopal. Shivraj was physically assaulted, accused of circulating protest leaflets, and threatened with torture. Handcuffed, he was brought before a magistrate who remanded him without substantial evidence. Shivraj spent over nine months in jail, missing his Class 11 board exams. While in jail, he witnessed fellow detainees endure brutal punishments, medical neglect, and chilling disciplinary tactics. One inmate died after being denied timely care. Shivraj's grandmother passed away during this period, but he was not allowed to attend her funeral. Shivraj has described the period as a formative awakening to the fragility of rights and the dangers of unchecked power. He would go on to serve four terms as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and now holds a Union Cabinet post. Vijay Goel Vijay Goel, a Delhi University student and ABVP organiser, when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency, was arrested for staging protests and distributing anti-regime leaflets. Jailed under MISA, Goel later became a Union minister and two-time MP. He describes the Emergency as his political baptism that shaped his beliefs and public life. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe As a student in Pune, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe participated in protests during the Emergency, and soon, police arrested him along with 16 others. He spent 45 days in jail after refusing to pay a fine for defying prohibitory orders. During this period, he says, he engaged in deep political dialogue, including with inmates of different ideologies, such as the Communists, and began to see democracy as something earned, not granted. Speaking to ThePrint, Sahasrabuddhe, who later became a Rajya Sabha MP and policy scholar, says, 'There was a constant feeling that we were under watch. When we offered satyagraha, the women police gave us enough time to talk before arresting us. Jail time made us realise that democracy is not a gift—it has to be fought for and protected.' 'Black Day' For the BJP, the Emergency is not just a historical event but part of its founding mythology as the party continues to mark 25 June as a 'black day', honouring those imprisoned and using the period as a reference point to target the Congress. 'The BJP has always remained at the forefront of protecting the Constitution and democracy. As the former Jan Sangh, we saw our leaders jailed—Nanaji Deshmukh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh ji, and even Prime Minister Modi—all faced repression during the Emergency,' says BJP's national spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan. 'We will always be present wherever the Constitution is under threat.' (Edited by Madhurita Goswami) Also Read: BJP made big promises in Delhi on disability rights. Now comes the real test
The Print
29 minutes ago
- The Print
Why BJP Haryana dropped Bansi Lal's kin, Kiran & Shruti Choudhry, from its Emergency ‘Black Day' rallies
The BJP's mega outreach, spearheaded by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Union Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Rao Inderjit Singh, and state president Mohan Lal Badoli, aims to target the Congress by reviving memories of the Emergency's dark days. A towering figure in Haryana politics and three-time Chief Minister, Bansi Lal remains the face of Emergency in Haryana, synonymous with the authoritarian excesses of the Emergency (1975-1977) in the state. Gurugram: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Emergency with a 'Black Day' campaign led by 54 senior leaders, the absence of Haryana Minister Shruti Choudhry and her mother, Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Choudhry, underscore the enduring shadow of Chaudhary Bansi Lal, the latter's father-in-law. Saini will address a rally in Karnal, Khattar in Faridabad, and Rao in Gurugram, while former minister Ram Bilas Sharma will speak in Rewari. Yet, Kiran and Shruti Choudhry, who joined the BJP from Congress before the 2024 Assembly polls, have not been included in the list of 54 BJP leaders selected to address rallies at 27 places across 22 districts, including in Hansi, Gohana, Dabwali, Gurugram Rural and Ballabgarh. ThePrint reached Kiran Choudhry via calls. This report will be updated if and when a response is received. When questioned about their absence from the party's programme during a press conference Wednesday, CM initially said everyone in the party is participating, but later added that the 2 leaders might have had other engagements. The exclusion of the two leaders underscores the party's intent to avoid any association with Bansi Lal's controversial legacy, particularly his role in the forced sterilisation campaign that earned him public ire. Bansi Lal, a trusted ally of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi, was the face of the Emergency in Haryana, recalled former IAS officer MG Devasahayam, who served as Bhiwani's first Deputy Commissioner in 1971. 'Bansi Lal, along with Sanjay's brigade, including V.C. Shukla, Om Mehta, and R.K. Dhawan, drove the Emergency's excesses,' Devasahayam said to The Print. 'In Haryana, he was its enforcer.' Initially, Devasahayam shared a cordial relationship with Bansi Lal, who entrusted him with developing Bhiwani, his home district. However, their ties soured during the Emergency when Devasahayam was Chandigarh's Deputy Commissioner. Bansi Lal demanded the closure of The Tribune's Chandigarh office and the arrest of its editor, Madhavan Nair, for defying censorship rules. 'He threatened to send the Haryana Police if I didn't comply,' Devasahayam recounted. By negotiating with the newspaper's management to adhere to censorship, Devasahayam averted action, but earned Bansi Lal's lasting displeasure. As Defence Minister from December 1975 to March 1977, Bansi Lal wielded significant influence, overseeing the arrest of opposition leaders and the implementation of Sanjay Gandhi's 5-point programme, particularly the contentious sterilisation drive. In Haryana, over 2 lakh sterilisations were targeted, often executed with coercion. Media reports cite instances of unmarried youths and elderly men, some as old as 70, being forcibly sterilised. Pawan Kumar Bansal, author of the book Haryana Ke Lalo Ke Sabrange Kisse, said to ThePrint that a popular slogan of the time captured public outrage: 'Nasbandhi ke teen dalal—Indira, Sanjay, Bansi Lal' (The three brokers of sterilization—Indira, Sanjay, Bansi Lal). He said Bansi Lal had to suffer politically for long because of his role in emergency and it was only two decades later, in 1996 assembly elections, that people of Haryana reposed their trust in him and that too after he apologised for his excesses in almost every rally he addressed. 'During the 1977 Lok Sabha election after the emergency was listed, Bansi Lal was contesting from Bhiwani and the Janata Party had fielded Chandrawati against him. Bansi Lal's wife Vidya Devi went to a village to campaign for him. Mistaking her for Chandrawati, villagers assured her full support as they said they have to teach Bansi Lal a lesson. When Vidya Devi revealed her identity, the villagers told her very politely, that they were ready to welcome her with sweetened milk or lassi whatever she wants to have, but no votes this time,' Bansal revealed. Sharing another anecdote, Bansal recalled that while Morarji Desai was kept at the Tauru guest house and leaders like Jaipal Reddy, Chandra Shekhar, L.K. Advani, Devi Lal, and Biju Patnaik were jailed in Rohtak, Bansi Lal would often boast about it with pride. ''Madam (Indira Gandhi) called me and asked me to keep the jails ready. I told her don't worry my jails are ready for Opposition leaders', Bansi Lal used to boast,' said Bansal. The book also mentions how former Haryana CM Banarasi Das Gupta, while deposing before the Shah Commission set up by Janata Party government to look into excesses during emergency, said that he was just a 'dummy' CM and the real power vested in Bansi Lal and his son Surender Singh. Also read: Emergency showed extent of executive power. 50 years on, it's still embedded in Constitution State of the Opposition: Devi Lal and beyond The Emergency saw widespread suppression of dissent in Haryana. Opposition stalwart Chaudhary Devi Lal, later deputy prime minister, was among the first arrested, spending 19 months in Mahendragarh jail. His sons, Om Prakash Chautala and Jagdish Chautala, too, endured seven months in Hisar jail, evading police for months by fleeing their village on camelback or hiding in jeeps. Aditya Devi Lal, Jagdish's son and Dabwali MLA, shared family accounts with ThePrint: 'My mother, Seema, was pregnant when my grandfather and father were jailed. No women visited them in prison, per Devi Lal's instructions.' Ram Bilas Sharma, then a Jan Sangh leader, recounted his harrowing 19-month imprisonment to ThePrint. Arrested after a lathi charge left him unconscious for over 3 hours, Sharma said he was tortured in Rohtak, Ambala, and Gaya jails. 'In Bihar's Gaya jail, I, a 6-foot-3 man, was crammed into a 5-foot cell,' he said. Nearly 1,300 Loktantra Senanis (democracy fighters) from Haryana were jailed, with about 600 still alive, Sharma noted. Retribution and rivalry The Emergency's end in 1977 brought political reckoning. Devi Lal, elected chief minister in Haryana's first post-Emergency polls, harboured deep animosity towards Bansi Lal, stemming from personal and political slights. An infamous incident, widely discussed in Haryana's political lore, saw Bansi Lal arrested in a Haryana Youth Congress fund scam. Police paraded him handcuffed through Bhiwani's streets on foot, an act attributed to Devi Lal's vendetta. Political analyst Jyoti Mishra, a researcher at the Centre for Study on Democratic Societies (CSDS), Delhi, said the BJP's decision to exclude Kiran and Shruti Choudhry from its 'Black Day' campaign reflects a calculated move to avoid giving the Congress ammunition. 'Legacy of Bansi Lal, though a formidable leader with a legacy to cash in on, remains a liability in the context of the Emergency,' she told ThePrint. (Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri) Also read: Control, fear, and division—Congress hasn't changed even 50 years after Emergency
