Emergency & Constitution

Emergency - Constitution of India - "Defaced & De-filed".

On this day in 1975, the government of Mrs. Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency,the darkest day of India’s democracy.President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed drew on Article 352 of the Constitution to declare a state of internal emergency. The presidential proclamation said “the security of India is threatened by internal disturbance”. Between June 26, 1975 and March 21, 1977, when the Emergency was in force, the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assumed draconian powers and crushed all dissent. Hours before the proclamation — through the night of June 25-26, 1975, police arrested all major Opposition leaders, including Jaiprakash Narayan. In the days that followed, civil liberties were suspended, media censored, and amendments were brought that threatened to alter the basic structure of the Constitution. Draconian laws like MISA were strengthened. The government suspended the right to move court for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

Why did Indira impose the Emergency?

Indira’s Congress won 352 seats in the 1971 elections, and her rivals led by the likes of Morarji Desai were decimated. On June 12, Allahabad High Court ruled on a petition filed by Bharatiya Lok Dal leader Raj Narain, declaring Indira’s election win from Rae Bareli void. As the Opposition called for her resignation, the PM appealed to the Supreme Court. The vacation bench of Justice V R Krishna Iyer gave a conditional stay on the HC order, ruling that she could remain as PM, but could not speak or vote in Parliament pending a decision by a larger bench.

Who opposed the Emergency?

JP was the face of the opposition. The Janata Front (old Congress, Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal, Socialist Party), Akali Dal, CPM and DMK openly opposed it. Nani A Palkhiwala, counsel for Indira in her appeal against the HC ruling, returned the brief. Fali Nariman, who was Additional Solicitor General, quit. The RSS, Ananda Margis and Jamaat-e-Islami were banned. Naxalites faced the brunt of police brutality. Freedom fighters including Dr Sushila Nayyar, Acharya Kriplani and H V Kamath were arrested from Rajghat for protesting on Gandhi Jayanti. ‘Free JP’ signature campaigns were launched in the US and UK. Advertisements taken out in The Times of London and The New York Times. A long march, ‘Indians for Democracy’, was taken out from Liberty Bell, Philadelphia, to the UN in New York. Supreme Court Justice H R Khanna took a principled stand against attacks on the Constitution and attempts to subvert justice. He was the only dissenter in the five-member Bench that ruled against habeas corpus, allowing the government to detain a person indefinitely.

What did the Emergency do to the Constitution?

The 38th to 42nd amendments were passed during the Emergency. The 38th Amendment barred the review of proclamations of the Emergency, judicial review of overlapping proclamations, of ordinances promulgated by the President or by Governors, and of laws that contravened the Fundamental Rights. The 39th protected the Prime Minister from possible Supreme Court action resulting from her election case. The Amendment was placed in the Ninth Schedule, beyond judicial review. The 41st Amendment said no criminal proceedings “whatsoever” could lie against a President, Prime Minister, or Governor for acts before or during their terms of office. The 42nd Amendment gave unrestrained powers to Parliament to change the Constitution, and invalidated the Supreme Court ruling in the Keshavananda Bharti case that the government couldn’t change the basic structure of the Constitution. The Janata government brought in the 43rd and 44th Amendments to undo the damage.