Mita Nath Bora
(mitanathbora7@gmail.com)
“The Emergency is the dark night that still haunts the soul of Indian democracy.”
Let memory be our resistance.
Between June 25, 1975, and March 21, 1977, India wit-nessed an unprecedented suspension of constitutional rights, civil liberties, and democratic norms. India’s democracy faced its greatest internal assault during this period. Declared by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Emergency turned the world’s largest democracy into a republic of silence and fear. The constitutional guarantees of liberty, justice, and free expression were suspended with the stroke of a pen — and behind that stroke lay a machinery of fear, propaganda, and brutality.
The state had declared war not on another state — but on its own people.
Today, as we mark 50 years since the imposition of Emergency, we ask- Why remember now? The answer is simple— to remember is to resist and history, if forgotten, is repeated. Authoritarianism never announces itself, what came wrapped in the label of “internal disturbance” was in fact a crackdown on political dissent. Every journalist jailed, every voice silenced, every protest crushed during the Emergency happened because too many remained silent. Democracy dies not only through action, but also through apathy. Silence emboldens abuse.
India’s democratic journey has many proud chapters — but the Emergency was its darkest. Remembering it is not an act of vengeance, but of responsibility. We owe it to the imprisoned poets, the tortured activists, the journalists who lost their jobs, the families torn apart.
The Emergency is a story of what can happen when institutions surrender, media is silenced, and the citizen is disempowered. Democracy was derailed and our constitution was betrayed. Behind the scenes, constitutional amendments were rushed to shield the than Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from legal scrutiny. The 39th and 40th Amendments sought to make Indira Gandhi’s election unquestionable by law. Courts were bypassed, Parliament was subverted, and Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution trembled in silence.
The Key Instruments of Repression
1. Suspension of
Fundamental Rights
On June 25 in the dark of night Indira Gandhi visited President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, asking him to sign the Emergency Proclamation under Article 352. As a loyal functionary, the President signed the document at 11:45 p.m.—without asking a single question. This bore a chilling similarity to an event 42 years earlier-on February 28, 1933, Hitler had convinced German President Paul von Hindenburg to sign a decree that suspended all civil liberties in Germany. Indira Gandhi, step by step, was repeating Hitler. Under Article 352, suspension of fundamental rights took place, habeas corpus petitions were denied and citizens had no legal recourse against unlawful detentions.
2. Mass Arrests and Torture
Over 100,000 people, including opposition leaders, students, journalists, and activists, were jailed, often without warrants, charges, or trials, under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) law and the Defence of India Rules. Torture and custodial deaths were widespread and went unpunished. Torture and custodial abuse became normalized. Political prisoners were beaten, humiliated, and denied basic rights.
Indira Gandhi’s primary anger was directed at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Orders were sent out across the country that RSS functionaries must be arrested. Around 45,000 to 50,000 RSS workers and swayamsevaks were arrested in the initial days, the number only grew over time.RSS Sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras was arrested and sent to Yerwada Jail (Pune). Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were arrested in Bangalore and held in local jails. There was a special directive from Indira Gandhi to catch Nanaji Deshmukh. Many were forced to go underground. Madhavrao Mule, the then Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) of RSS, went underground. Leaders like George Fernandes, Subramanian Swamy, Ravindra Verma likewise avoided capture. Over 80,000 RSS volunteers and Jan Sangh members were arrested during the Emergency.
3. Press Censorship
Censorship choked every newspaper, radio broadcast, and magazine. Editors were jailed, presses shut down, and dissent criminalized. Independent newspapers like The Indian Express and The Statesman faced pre-censorship, shutdowns, and intimidation. Veteran journalists like Jagat Narayan (Punjab Kesari), Arun Shourie, and Kuldip Nayar (Indian Express) were arrested and thrown into jail.
In Delhi, Chandigarh, and Jalandhar, most newspapers couldn’t be printed at all as the electricity supply to their presses had been cut. At the Tribune office in Chandigarh, the police barged in and stopped the printing press mid-run. The Motherland newspaper office was sealed off by the police, and its editor, K.R. Malkani, was arrested. Some newspapers managed to bring out supplements later in the day, but they were seized in several places.Journalists who refused to toe the line were arrested, silenced, or threatened.
4. Sterilization Drive
Led by Sanjay Gandhi, the state’s family planning program turned into a coercive mass sterilization campaign, targeting poor men, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Haryana. Lakhs were sterilized—many without consent, compensation, or aftercare. At least thousands died due to botched procedures.
North India witnessed the most aggressive enforcement, particularly in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Dalits, Muslims, and the urban poor were disproportionately affected by sterilization and displacement drives. In Jama Masjid and Turkman Gate (Delhi) mass evictions under urban beautification displaced thousands; protests were met with bullets. Judicial surrender, with the infamous ADM Jabalpur ruling, denied even the Right to Life during the Emergency.
Institutional Complicity happened wherein bureaucracy signed illegal orders without resistance, police became instruments of state terror, judiciary, barring a few brave voices, capitulated. In the infamous ADM Jabalpur case, the Supreme Court ruled that even the Right to Life could be suspended. Only Justice H. R. Khanna dissented and paid the price by being superseded for Chief Justice.
Documenting Emergency brutalities is not about revenge; it’s about remembrance and resistance. India needs a national memorial and digital archive dedicated to the Emergency: testimonies, court records, orders, survivor stories.