History Of Emergency In India

Ninad Umesh, BA.LLB, St Joseph's College of Law

INTRODUCTION

Emergency has been one of the most argued topics in India mainly because of what happened in 1975. Before 1975 the emergency was issued first on 1962 and then on 1971 both of which were issued due to act of external aggression and war like situations with China and Pakistan respectively. But what happened in 1975 single handedly led to the fall of one of the strongest and most influential political party of India, Indian National Congress. While the first two issued to safeguard the country, the third was issued to keep power in hand, in what is known as the clash between the judiciary and the government which still is evident today.

The Supreme Court leading to the phase of the emergency defied the prime minister by holding that her election was illegal and in turn the prime minister, Indira Gandhi with the idea of keeping her power instituted a state of emergency from 1975 to 1977. This was the closest India had been to forgoing democratic nature and totally turn into a dictatorial form of governance with heavy crackdown on all spheres of life with an already overburdened economy facing the brunt of it. As we go proceed through the paper, we will see the powers emergency offers and how it can turn dictatorial and a history of how the provocation of emergency clause has affected India.