Only 28 years after independence, the country had to go through the stigma of emergency due to the decision of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. On the night of 25-26 June, an emergency came into force in the country with the signing of President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on the order of emergency. The next morning the whole country heard a message in Indira Gandhi’s voice on the radio that brothers and sisters, the President has declared a state of emergency. But ordinary people need not be afraid of this.
In order to prevent the news of the June 25 rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan from spreading across the country, the newspaper offices on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Delhi were cut off at night. Sanjay Gandhi and Om Mehta were making a list of those who were to be arrested while sitting in the room of Indira Gandhi’s special assistant RK Dhawan at night itself.

Indira Gandhi

Its root was in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections, in which she defeated her main rival Rajnarayan. But four years after the election results came out, Raj Narayan challenged the election results in the High Court. On June 12, 1975, Judge Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court canceled the election of Indira Gandhi and banned her from contesting elections for six years. And Mrs. Gandhi’s arch-rival Rajnarayan Singh was declared victorious in the election.

Rajnarayan Singh had argued that Indira Gandhi misused the government machinery in the elections, spent money in excess of the stipulated limit, and used unfair means to influence the voters. The court upheld these allegations. Despite this, Mrs. Gandhi refused to resign. Then the Congress party also issued a statement saying that the leadership of Indira Gandhi is indispensable for the party.

On this day the opposition Janata Front got a massive victory against Chimanbhai Patel in Gujarat. Indira Gandhi was stunned by this double injury. Indira Gandhi refused to accept this decision of the court and announced to appeal to the Supreme Court and on 26 June the imposition of emergency was declared.

Emergency Declared

At that time All India Radio broadcast in one of its news bulletins of the night that due to uncontrolled internal conditions, the government had declared a state of emergency in the whole country. In her message broadcast on All India Radio, Indira Gandhi had said, “Ever since I have taken some progressive steps for the benefit of the common man and the women of the country, a deep conspiracy was being hatched against me.” During this, all the fundamental rights of the people were suspended. There was a complete ban on anti-government speeches and demonstrations of any kind.

During the Emergency, the ruling Congress made an autocratic attempt to suppress the voice of the common man. Its basis was the provision that gave unlimited powers to the government under section 352.

• Indira could stay in power as long as she wanted.
• There was no need for elections for Lok Sabha- Vidhan Sabha.
• Media and newspapers were not free
  Any kind of law could have been passed by the government.

Under MISA and DIR, more than one lakh people were imprisoned in the country. Jai Prakash Narayan, the hero of the movement against the Emergency, had kidney failure during his imprisonment. In that dark period, there are horrifying stories of prison tortures. All the big leaders of the country were put behind bars. In a way, prisons became political schools. Young leaders got a chance to learn and understand a lot in jail with big leaders.
On the one hand, a new plant of leaders was learning politics, on the other hand, Indira’s son Sanjay Gandhi was running the country through the trio of his friends Bansilal, Vidya Charan Shukla, and Om Mehta. Sanjay Gandhi appointed VC Shukla as the new Information and Broadcasting Minister who banned the media from writing or speaking anything without the permission of the government, whoever refused was thrown in jails.

Sanjay Gandhi

It is said that in the name of beautification, Sanjay Gandhi got the slums of Turkman Gate cleaned in a single day, but in the five-point program, more emphasis was on family planning. People were forcibly sterilized. During 19 months, about 83 lakh people were forcefully sterilized across the country. It is also said that the police force used to surround the village and the men were caught and sterilized.

In an interview long after the Emergency, Indira had said that she thought India needed shock treatment. However, this shock treatment was planned six months before the June 25 rally. On 8 January 1975, Siddhartha Shankar Ray sent a letter to Indira about the complete emergency plan. According to the letter, this plan was made in his meeting with the then Law Minister HR Gokhale, Congress President Devkant Barua, and Bombay Congress President Rajni Patel.

The protest that Indira Gandhi wanted to pacify through the Emergency, in 19 months, made the country impotent. From Sanjay Gandhi and his trio to the security forces and the bureaucracy, all had become autocratic. Once Indira Gandhi had said that even dogs did not bark in protest when the Emergency was imposed, but in 19 months she realized the mistake and the anger of the people. On 18 January 1977, he suddenly decided to hold the Lok Sabha elections in March.