June 25, 1975: Indian democracy's darkest hour is here; Emergency

India Today

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This is the final part of Democracy's Darkest Hour, a three-part series chronicling the Emergency. In this concluding segment, we trace the unravelling of the Emergency, the growing resistance, and the announcement of the 1977 general elections that marked the end of an authoritarian era.Morarji's ScarsDelhi's power corridors buzzed with tension in the winter of 1966. On January 11, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri suddenly passed away in Tashkent, leading to a political war of succession. Veteran leader Morarji Desai, who was edged out by Shastri in 1964, led a determined campaign for power.advertisementFor a while, it seemed Desai's ambition of leading India would be fulfilled. But his opponents, repulsed by Desai's conservative politics and hubris, joined hands to precipitate a contest. Pushing aside Gulzari Lal Nanda, the caretaker PM, a powerful faction led by chief ministers pushed Indira Gandhi to the front.
After a tense build-up, the drama culminated when the Congress Parliamentary Party elected Indira Gandhi, casting 355 votes in favour and 169 against.The rivalry between Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai simmered for a few years. It exploded in 1969 when Indira Gandhi took the finance portfolio from Desai, retaining him as her deputy without power. Calling it an assault on his dignity, Desai resigned from the government. Indira Gandhi waited with patience for revenge.The Night of Long KnivesOn June 25, 1975, All India Radio crackled with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's voice: 'The President has proclaimed Emergency,' she declared, framing it as a shield against 'internal disturbance.' The announcement marked the onset of an authoritarian era, a reign of terror. The PM's son, Sanjay Gandhi, though holding no official post, orchestrated the first wave of arrests under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). By dawn, over 600 opposition leaders were detained, including Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and LK Advani. Bansi Lal's Haryana police led raids in Delhi, targeting politicians, journalists, and social workers.advertisementTo ensure the news of arrests didn't percolate to the masses, the government issued orders to cut power to Delhi's printing presses, silencing newspapers.On June 25, the government invoked the Defence of India Rules, delivering 'guidelines' to editors: no criticism, no unrest reports. After a brief period of defiance, the media fell in line. BJP leader Advani was to famously comment on this genuflection: 'When asked to bend, they crawled.'Only a few flags of resistance continued to fly. By June 30, the Central Censorship Committee, under the government's iron fist, started scrutinising every publication, creating what author Ram Guha calls a 'monochrome media landscape.'The CrackdownThe government's legal manoeuvres were swift. On June 27, an ordinance barred courts from reviewing MISA detentions, nullifying habeas corpus. By July, the 38th and 39th Constitutional Amendments, drafted with Ray's input, shielded Emergency actions and Indira's election from judicial scrutiny. Gyan Prakash's Emergency Chronicles details how these laws 'entrenched executive supremacy.'According to India Today, which was launched in the first year of the Emergency, detainees - estimated at 100,000 by mid-1976 - languished in jails like Tihar and Bangalore Central, denied legal recourse.The Spectre of SterilisationIn July, Indira Gandhi unveiled her 21-Point Programme, promising land reforms and price controls. Sanjay, the programme's de facto enforcer, twisted it into a tool of coercion. His slum clearance drives, starting in Delhi's Turkman Gate, displaced hundreds. Piloted by Jagmohan, the demolition drive earned Sanjay the moniker of the modern Shahjahan.advertisementSanjay's pet dream was to control population growth. Forced sterilisations began across India, with the government setting quotas that coerced government employees and villagers. The spin doctors had a fancy label for this drive: 'population discipline.'During 1976-77, an estimated 6.2-11 million sterilisations (mostly vasectomies) were performed. Incentives were offered, but coercion was rampant.In Uttar Pradesh, camps processed thousands of cases daily, with some reports putting the daily count in excess of 5,500. Teachers, health workers, and villagers faced penalties like salary cuts if quotas weren't met. In extreme cases, police allegedly rounded up men, sometimes unmarried or childless, forcibly sterilising them. Botched procedures led to deaths from infections or complications.The Dreaded 'Chashmewali'Sanjay's political secretary, Rukhsana Sultana, became the symbol of this nightmare. Famous for her big black goggles and stylish suits, Sultana ran an infamous sterilisation center in Old Delhi's Dujana House near the Jama Masjid. According to government statements, leveraging her Muslim identity, Sultana motivated 15,000 people for the procedure. Journalist Khwaja Ahmed Abbas notes she was paid Rs 84,000 as an incentive for her role in population control.advertisementSultana wielded immense power. Abbas narrates an incident when a top-ranking police officer stood by while she dined in Old Delhi. But her role was mired in controversy. She offered to halt Turkman Gate demolitions if residents provided 300 sterilisation cases weekly, linking slum clearance to the family planning drive. This sparked resentment, as Muslims perceived the campaign as a 'Hindu plot' to reduce their population, fuelling communal tensions.The backlash contributed to Indira Gandhi's electoral defeat in 1977, particularly in northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the drive was most intense. The Congress Party's vote share plummeted, and the term 'nasbandi' (vasectomy) became synonymous with Emergency excesses. In Delhi, the popular Congress leader Subhadra Joshi lost in 1977 because of the ire of Muslims coerced by Sanjay's coterie and uprooted by Jagmohan's Turkman Gate beautification drive.Sanjay's Coterie: Goebbels, Rasputin and GestapoSanjay orchestrated a reign of control through his loyal coterie: Vidya Charan Shukla, Dhirendra Brahmachari, and Bansi Lal, each a pillar of his shadow government.Shukla, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, was Sanjay's propagandist, akin to Goebbels. On Sanjay's advice, Indira Gandhi orchestrated Inder Kumar Gujaral's exit overnight, and replaced him with Shukla. The trigger was Gujaral's refusal to broadcast a party rally at Boat Club.advertisementThe new minister muzzled the press, banning critical publications and even Kishore Kumar's songs after the singer defied a Congress Youth rally. His ministry ensured dissent vanished, as films like Kissa Kursi Ka, a satire on Sanjay, were destroyed. The Shah Commission later condemned Shukla's censorship, noting, 'The media was used to propagate the virtues of the Emergency.'Bansi Lal, Haryana's strongman and later Defence Minister, was the Gestapo-like enforcer. He drove Sanjay's brutal sterilisation campaigns, detention drives, and slum clearances, earning infamy for his ruthlessness. The Shah Commission reported, 'Bansi Lal's actions caused widespread fear and suffering.'Dhirendra Brahmachari, the enigmatic yoga guru dubbed Rasputin, wielded spiritual sway over Indira and Sanjay. Operating from his ashram, he influenced policy and amassed power, his mystique cloaking his political maneuvers.Brahmachari was more than a yogi. He controlled access to the PM and was accused of smuggling and financial crimes. After sparring with Sanjay initially, he became part of the trio that implemented his ideas with ruthless zeal. Together, they created a regime where, as author Gyan Prakash writes, 'power flowed not through institutions but through loyalty to Indira.'advertisementAssault on the ConstitutionSS Ray, the coterie's legal anchor, prepared the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, raising fears of an impending dictatorship. The 1976 amendment introduced sweeping changes to centralise power and limit judicial oversight.Key changes included: adding 'Socialist and Secular' to the Preamble, extending the Lok Sabha term to six years (reversed by the 44th Amendment), limiting High Court jurisdiction during emergencies to state matters only, removing the right to property as a Fundamental Right and making it a constitutional right, and introducing 10 Fundamental Duties for citizens.The amendment significantly enhanced executive power. Many changes were reversed by the 44th Amendment Act of 1978, restoring checks on the executive.India was in an iron grip. Yet, unrest was growing within Congress and beyond.Rise of the ResistanceBy October, resistance flickered. The Congress Party, once a monolith, began to fracture internally. Senior leaders like Jagjivan Ram and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, disillusioned by Sanjay's unchecked power and the party's authoritarian drift, started to distance themselves. Outside the party, resistance grew bolder. Underground networks, such as those led by socialist leader George Fernandes, distributed pamphlets exposing excesses.In universities, students whispered dissent, while rural communities, upset with sterilisation quotas and demolitions, simmered with anger. The BBC's international broadcasts, despite Shukla's attempts to suppress them, kept global attention on India's descent into autocracy, amplifying calls for change.The End of the EmergencyIn early 1977, Indira Gandhi, perhaps sensing the mounting pressure, or confident of popular support, made a fateful decision. On January 18, 1977, she announced that general elections would be held in March, effectively signalling the end of the Emergency.The decision stunned her advisors and opponents alike. Some historians argue she believed the Congress's propaganda machine and Sanjay's Youth Congress had secured her invincibility. Others suggest she hoped to legitimise her rule through a controlled electoral victory, underestimating the depth of public anger. Many suspect the role of international pressure, her fear of a tarnished global image.The announcement unleashed a wave of political activity. Opposition leaders were released from jails. By February, the Janata Party was formed. It was a fragile coalition of egos and groups united by their shared opposition to Indira's authoritarianism. Leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, though frail, lent moral weight to the campaign.The Fall of IndiraThe Congress Party, blindsided by the depth of public resentment, was routed, winning only 154 seats compared to the Janata Party's 295. Indira Gandhi herself lost her Rae Bareli seat, Sanjay was defeated in Amethi, a stunning indictment of their excesses.The Janata Party's victory, with Morarji Desai becoming Prime Minister, signalled a restoration of democratic norms, though the coalition's fragility would soon surface.The Emergency left an indelible scar on India's psyche, a cautionary tale of power unchecked, a dark shadow of autocracy. As LK Advani later remarked, 'The Emergency taught us that democracy is not a gift; it is a responsibility.'Despite the scars, the 1977 polls proved that India's spirit of resistance could not be silenced.Epilogue:Indira returned with a massive majority in 1980, chastened by the defeat.Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash in June 1980.Brahmachari loitered in the corridors of power for some time before being banished. Two decades later, he too died in a plane crash.Rukhsana Sultana faded away after Sanjay's death, never to be seen in public.Read Part 2: The shadow of Sanjay: How Indira Gandhi's son shaped the EmergencyRead Part 1: The story of Indira Gandhi's Emergency; the beginning- Ends