Class - 12 Political chapter 6

  The Crisis of Democratic order 

Background to Emergency 

• Indira Gandhi had emerged as a towering leader with tremendous popularity .
• This was also the period witnessed tensions in the relationship between the government and the judiciary .
• The supreme court found many initiatives of the government to be violative of the constitution .
• The parties opposed to the congress felt that politics was becoming too personalized and that governmental authority was being converted into personal authority .
• The split in the congress had sharpened the division between Indira Gandhi and her opponents .

Economic context 

• The social and economic condition in the country did not improve much after 1971 -72 .
• The Bangladesh crisis had put a heavy strain on India's economy .
• About eight million people crossed over the  East Pakistan border into India . This followed by war with Pakistan .
• After the war the U.S government stopped all aid India . In the international market , oil prices increased manifold during this period .
• Industrial growth was low and unemployment was very high , particularly in the rural areas .
• In order to reduce expenditure the government froze the salaries of its employees .This caused further dissatisfaction among government employees .
• Monsoons failed in 1972 -1973 . This resulted in a sharp decline in  agricultural productivity .
• opposition parties were able to organize popular protests effectively 
• In the activities of Marxist groups who did not believe in parliamentary politics .

Gujarat and Bihar movements .

• In January 1974 students in Gujarat started an agitation against rising prices of food grains , cooking oil and other essential commodities , and against corruption in high places .
• The students' protest was joined by major opposition parties and became widespread leading to the imposition of president's rule in the state .
• The opposition parties demanded fresh elections to the state in the legislature .
• The assembly elections were held in Gujarat in June 1975 .

Bihar 

• In March 1974 students came together in Bihar to protest against rising prices , food scarcity , unemployment and corruption .
• After  a point they invited Jayaprakash Narayan , who had given up active politics and was involved in social work , to lead the student movement .
• Jayaprakash Narayan demanded the dismissal of the congress government in Bihar and gave a call for total revolution in order to establish to be true democracy .
• A series of bandhs , gehraos , and strikes were organised in protest against the Bihar government .
• The movement was beginning to influence national politics .
• The employees of the Railways gave a call for a nationwide strike .This threatened to paralyse the country .
• In 1975, JP led a peoples' march to the parliament . This was one of the largest political rallies ever held in the capital .
• He was now supported by the non - congress opposition parties like the Bharatiya Jana Sangh , the congress (o) , the Bharatiya Lok Dal , the Socialist Party and others .

Conflict with Judiciary 

• This was also the period when the government and the ruling party had many differences with the Judiciary .
• After the supreme court 's decision in 1973 in the Kesavanada Bharati case , a vacancy arose for the post of the Chief Justice of India .
• In 1973, the government set aside the seniority of three judges and appointed Justice A. N. Ray as the Chief Justice of India .
• The appointment became politically controversial because all the three judges who were superseded had given rulings against the stand of the government .
• The climax of the confrontation was of course the ruling of the High court declaring Indira Gandhi 's election invalid .

Declaration of Emergency 

• On 12 June 1975, justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court passed a Judgement declaring Indira Gandhi 's election to the Lok Sabha invalid.
• The petition, Challenged the election of Indira Gandhi on the ground that she had used the services of government servants in her election campaign .

Crisis and response 

• The stage was now set for a big political confrontation .
• The opposition political parties led by Jayaprakash Narayan pressed for Indira Gandhi's resignation and organised a massive demonstration in Delhi 's Ramlila grounds on 25 June 1975.

Features of Emergency 

• The response of the government was to declare a state of emergency .
• On 25 June 1975, the government declared that there was a threat of Internal disturbances and therefore , it invoke Article 352 of the constitution .
• One an emergency is proclaimed, the federal distribution of powers remains practically suspended and all the power are concentrated in the hands of the union government.
• Secondly, the government also gets the power to curtail or restrict all or any of the fundamental Rights during the emergency. 

Consequences 

• This brought the agitation to an abrupt stop; strikes were banned;  many opposition leaders were put in jail; the political situation become very quiet thought tense.
• Under Emergency provisions, the government suspended the freedom of the press.
• Newspapers were asked to get prior approval for all material to be published. This is known as press censorship. 
• Most importantly, under the provision of Emergency, the various Fundamental right of citizens stood suspended, including the right of citizens to move the court for restoring their Fundamental Rights.
• The government made extensive use of preventive detention. 
• People are arrested and detained not because they have committed any offence, but on the apprehension that they may commit an offence.
• Using preventive detention acts, the government made large scale arrests during the Emergency.
• The Parliament also brought in many new changes to the constitution .
• An amendment was made declaring that election of Prime Minister , President and Vice - President could not be challenged in the court .

Controversies regarding Emergency 

• Emergency is one of the most controversial episodes in India politics. 
• One reason is that there are differing view points about the need to the declare emergency .
• Another reason is that using the powers given by the constitution , the government practically suspended the democratic functioning .

Was the Emergency necessary ?

• The Constitution simply mentioned ' internal disturbances' as the reason for declaring Emergency. Before 1975  , Emergency was never proclaimed on this ground .
• The government argued that in a democracy , the opposition parties must allow the elected ruling party to govern according to its policies .
• Supporters of Indira Gandhi also held that in a democracy , you cannot continuously have extra - parliamentary politics targeting the government .
• Indra Gandhi wrote in a letter to the Shah Commission that subversive forces were trying to obstruct the progressive programmers of the government and were attempting to dislodge her from power through extra - constitutional means .
• Some other parties , like the CPI that continued to back the congress during the Emergency , also believed that there was an international conspiracy against unity of India .
• The CPI felt agitations led by JP were mainly by the middle classes who opposed to the radical policies of the congress party.
• Indian politics had a history of popular struggles . JP and many other opposition leaders felt that in a democracy , people had the right to publicly protest against the government .
• The Bihar and Gujarat agitations were never tried for any anti - national activitiy .
• The Home Ministry, which is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the internal situation of the country , also did not express any concern about the law and order situation in the country .
• The threat was not to the unity and integrity of the country but to the ruling party and to the Prime Minister herself .

What happened during emergency ?

• The government said that it wanted to use the Emergency to bring law and order , restore efficiency , and above all , implement the pro - poor welfare programmes .
• The government led led by Indira Gandhi announced a twenty - point programme and declared its determination to implement this programme .
• The twenty - point programme included land reforms, land redistribution , review of agricultural wages, workers' participation in management, eradication of bonded labour , etc .

People reaction 

• The urban middle classes generally happy over the fact that agitations came to an end discipline was enforced on the government employees .
• The poor and rural people also expected effective implementation of the welfare programmes that the government was promising .

Critics of IGS emergency program

• Critics of emergency point out that most of these promises by the government remained unfulfilled .
• They question the use of preventive detention on such a large scale .
• The Shah commission estimated that nearly one lakh eleven thousand people were arrested under preventive detention laws. 
• Severe restrictions were put on the press, sometimes without proper legal sanctions .
• There were other and more serious allegations regarding the exercise of governmental power by people who held no official position .
• The emergency directly affected lives of common people in many cases . Forture and custodial deaths occurred during the Emergency ; arbitrary relocation of poor people also took place.

Lessons of the Emergency 

• The emergency at once brought out both the weaknesses and the strengths of Indira 's democracy .
• There are many observers who think that India ceased to be democratic during  the emergency , it is noteworthy that normal democratic functioning resumed within  a short span of time .
• Secondly , it brought out some ambiguities regarding the Emergency provision in the constitution that have been rectified since .
• Thirdly, the emergency made everyone more aware of the value of civil liberties .
• The courts too, have taken an active role after the emergency in protecting the civil liberties of the individuals .

Politics after Emergency 

• The 1977 elections turned into a referendum on the experience of the emergency , at least in north India where the impact of the emergency was felt most strongly .
• The lesson was clear and has been reiterated in many state level elections thereafter - governments that are perceived to be anti - democratic are severely punished by the voters .

Lok Sabha Elections, 1977 

• In January 1977, after eighteen months of emergency , the government decided to hold elections .
• The leaders and activists were released from jails .
• Elections were held in March 1977. 
• The major opposition parties had already been coming closer in the Emergency period .now they came together on the eve of the elections and formed a new party , known as the Janata Party .
• The new party accepted the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan.
• Janata Party made this election into a referendum on the emergency .
• Congress party was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections .

Janata Government 

• The Janata Party government that came to power after the 1977 elections was far from cohesive .
• After the election, there was stiff competition among three leaders for the post of Prime Minister - Moraji Desai .
• The opposition to emergency could keep the Janata party together only for a while .
• Its critics felt that the Janata Party lacked direction, leadership and a common programme. 
• The Janata Party government could not bring about a fundamental change in policies from those pursued by the congress .
• The Janata Party split and the government which was led by Morarji Desai lost its majority in less than 18 months .
• Fresh Lok Sabha elections were held in January 1980 .
• Congress party led by Indira Gandhi nearly repeated its great victory in 1971.

Legacy

• The congress party now identified itself with a particular ideology , claiming to be the only socialist and pro - poor party .
• Thus with the early nineteen seventies , the congress 's political success depended on attracting people on the basis of sharp social and ideological divisions and the appeal of one leader , Indira Gandhi .
• The emergency and the period around it can be described as a period of constitutional crisis because it had its origins in the Judiciary .
• On the other hand , it was also a period of political crisis .
• The party in power had absolute majority and yet , its leadership decided to suspend the democratic process .
• Another critical issue that emerged during this period was the role and extent of mass protests in a parliamentary democracy .