As India marks five decades since its most overt democratic breakdown, observers warn of a deeper, subtler crisis unfolding under the guise of normalcy.
Remembering the Night Democracy Was Gagged
At the stroke of midnight on June 25, 1975, India—then the world’s largest democracy—plunged into its darkest constitutional hour. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, facing political turbulence and a judicial ruling invalidating her 1971 Lok Sabha election, advised President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a National Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution. Citing “internal disturbance,” this proclamation suspended civil liberties, curtailed press freedom, and triggered mass arrests across the country.
For 21 months, India existed in a state of exception: over 100,000 opposition leaders, activists, and journalists were imprisoned, newspapers were subjected to pre-censorship, and power was concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister and her unelected coterie—most notably her son, Sanjay Gandhi. The brutal legacy of this era is etched in the forced sterilizations, slum demolitions (such as Delhi’s Turkman Gate), and the betrayal of constitutional safeguards.
And yet, 50 years on, as the Narendra Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) commemorates what it calls Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas (Murder of the Constitution Day), a more uncomfortable question arises: Has India truly learned from the Emergency—or has it quietly walked into a new one without the need for a formal proclamation?
Emergency Then: Naked Power, National Shame
The Emergency (1975–77) was a constitutional perversion, no doubt. Civil rights were suspended, opposition voices muffled through the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), and democratic institutions converted into instruments of executive will. Judicial independence was undermined through the 39th and 42nd Constitutional Amendments, insulating the Prime Minister from legal scrutiny and altering the Constitution’s basic framework.
The excesses were both systemic and personal. Sanjay Gandhi, lacking any formal portfolio, implemented his infamous five-point agenda that included coercive family planning drives and urban “beautification” through slum clearance. Jagmohan, then Delhi’s Lt. Governor and later a BJP minister, oversaw demolitions that displaced over 700,000 people.
Ironically, this period also received endorsements from unlikely quarters. Industrialist J.R.D. Tata and social reformer Vinoba Bhave praised the Emergency for bringing “discipline” amid chaos. Inflation dipped in 1975, partly due to a record monsoon, offering temporary economic relief.
But the illusion shattered when Indira Gandhi, misjudging her popularity, called elections in March 1977. The Janata Party triumphed, Indira lost her own seat, and India reaffirmed its democratic instinct. The post-Emergency 44th Amendment introduced vital checks: Parliament now had to approve Emergency declarations every six months, and the rights to life and liberty (Articles 20 and 21) were made non- suspend able.
BJP’s Emergency Narrative: History as a Bludgeon
Today, the BJP leverages the Emergency as historical ammunition against the Congress. For Prime Minister Modi, a self-professed RSS pracharak during 1975, it is a moral benchmark to attack dynastic authoritarianism. Yet this posturing is riddled with contradictions.
RSS’s own record during the Emergency is murky. Balasaheb Deoras, then head of the RSS, wrote letters of support to Indira Gandhi’s 20-point program, seeking to lift the organization’s ban. Arun Jaitley and Nanaji Deshmukh did resist, but the RSS’s overall role was less defiant than it claims today. Subramanian Swamy, an Emergency critic, has gone on record saying Modi played no prominent part in the resistance.
In 2025, after a bruising electoral setback that reduced the BJP to 240 Lok Sabha seats—just seven ahead of the opposition INDIA bloc’s 233—many view the Emergency rhetoric as a strategic distraction. Instead of introspection, the BJP appears to be invoking history to evade accountability in the present.
Today’s Crisis: An Emergency Without a Proclamation?
If the Emergency of 1975 was overt, today’s democratic backsliding is insidious, incremental, and systemic. Several political scientists and civil rights activists now refer to the past decade as an “undeclared emergency.”
Here’s how the parallels—and contrasts—unfold:
• Civil Liberties & Press Freedom: In 1975, censorship was declared and visible. In today’s India, it’s disguised under economic pressures, defamation suits, UAPA charges, and government influence over media conglomerates. India has slipped from 140 to 161 on the World Press Freedom Index between 2014 and 2023.
• Religious and Social Violence: The Emergency years were relatively free of communal bloodshed. By contrast, since 2014, lynching’s and targeted attacks—particularly against Muslims and Dalits—have surged. According to India Spend, there were 1,974 such incidents between 2014 and 2024.
• Judiciary and Rule of Law: The ADM Jabalpur case of 1976 showed how the judiciary capitulated to executive pressure. Today’s courts may not overtly endorse authoritarianism, but inaction, delays, and executive influence over appointments have eroded public trust.
• Targeting Dissent: Intellectuals, students, and rights activists—like Gauri Lankesh, Govind Pansare, and Stan Swamy—have faced threats, incarceration, or even assassination. In the Bhima Koregaon case, undertrials languish without bail for years under stringent anti-terror laws.
• Institutional Hollowing: Agencies like the CBI, ED, and Income Tax Department have been accused of functioning as political tools. NGOs and media houses face funding crackdowns, while “anti-national” has become a catch-all label for dissenters.
• Digital Surveillance and Disinformation: In 1975, communication was restricted by cutting phone lines and censoring newspapers. In 2025, it is manipulated through “WhatsApp universities,” digital troll armies, and AI-generated propaganda. Misinformation doesn’t just suppress truth—it manufactures false consensus.
• Economic Failures and Cronyism: The Emergency saw relative administrative efficiency. Today, controversies like the Rafale deal and the Adani Group’s meteoric rise amid allegations of stock manipulation indicate deeper governance rot. Add to this the NEET and UGC-NET paper leaks—robbing millions of youth of a fair future.
Lessons Unlearnt, Warnings Unheeded
Indira Gandhi, to her credit, eventually expressed regret. Congress leaders from Rajiv Gandhi to Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi have apologised for the Emergency. Constitutional reforms were enacted to prevent its recurrence.
But contrition is not enough. The greater challenge lies in identifying new threats that wear the mask of legality and nationalism. Regular elections, a formally independent judiciary, and a vibrant digital discourse offer a veneer of democracy—but beneath it lies a fragile, contested terrain.
Many now ask: What use is a Constitution if its spirit is dead but its form survives?
The Republic at 75: Alarm Bells or White Noise?
India’s democratic journey, once a global marvel, now finds itself at a crossroads. The Emergency was a constitutional aberration; today’s climate risks becoming the new normal. Silence is no longer imposed—it is internalized.
As we mark 50 years since the Emergency, we must ask not merely what happened then, but what is happening now. Democracies rarely collapse overnight. They erode slowly—law by law, institution by institution, truth by manipulated truth.
To honour the sacrifices of those jailed in 1975, and to uphold the Constitution crafted in 1950, we must remain vigilant in 2025.
Because the question is no longer whether we remember the Emergency—it’s whether we recognise it when it returns, unannounced.
~Hasnain Naqvi is a former member of the history faculty at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
