Case study

Emergency and Press in India

Dr Sanjeev Kumar, PhD, MBA, PG Diploma in Journalism and Mass
Communication, CSR
25th June 1975
3rd Proclamation of Emergency
• Nation wide Internal Emergency was declared on 25 June 1975
• It lasted till 23 March 1977
1st proclamation of emergency
• China attack on India (October 1962- January 1968)
• President announces this emergency on the grounds of Article 352’s external aggression.
• Article 352- emergency
• Article 359- suspension of fundamental rights (21 & 22)
• Can’t impose fundamental rights even through courts.
• Leaders of opposition / members of previous parties are arrested i.e. (200 People) on the ground that their
activities are against the national interest.
• On 21st October 1962 the war with China was over but this emergency wasn’t. The first emergency was
running and in between India and Pakistan armed conflict has taken place. In April 65-Sep 65 it converted
into war. After sometime between both the countries declared a cease fire and on January 6 conditions were
improved and an agreement was signed named as TASHKENT AGREEMENT. Now in both the countries
everything was normal then too the 1st emergency was still in exists.
• Slowly from the burden of emergency people were getting frustrated because of that - public campaigns had
taken place. Due to this International focus had taken place and due to all this on January 1968 government
had dismissed the 1st emergency.
2nd proclamation of emergency
• India- Pakistan war- 3rd December 1971
• 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 was followed by war with Pakistan. After the
war the U.S government stopped all aid to India.
• In the international market, oil prices increased manifold during this period. This led to an all-
round increase in prices of commodities. Prices increased by 23 per cent in 1973 and 30 per cent
in 1974. Such a high level of inflation caused much hardship to the people.
• 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. Food grain output declined by 8 per
cent. There was a general atmosphere of dissatisfaction with the prevailing economic situation all
over the country.
• In such a context non-Congress opposition parties were able to organise popular protests
effectively. Instances of students’ unrests that had persisted from the late 1960s became more
pronounced in this period.
3rd Proclamation of Emergency
Darkest Period of Independent India
• The emergency period from 25th June, 1975 to 21st March, 1977 is
referred to as the “darkest period” of independent India as all civil rights
were suspended and the freedom of speech and expression muzzled.
• The emergency was a big blow to the democratic principles that the
country had cherished after independence.
• The government invoked Press censorship along with the imposition of
Emergency as it wanted to control and manipulate the Press to suppress
public opinion.
• The Press was the only independent mass media in India during that time
as the radio and the television were controlled by the government.
Emergency and press
• One of the most important causes for the proclamation of Internal
Emergency in India in 1975 was the then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira
Gandhi’s belief that following the Allahabad High Court judgment
against her newspapers incited the people and created an
inflammatory situation.
• On 26th June, 1975 the government decided that a law should be
passed to prevent "scurrilous" and "malicious" writings in newspapers
and journals, news agencies would be restructured and Press Council
of India wound up.
• It was felt that the government policy regarding issuing of advertisements
to newspapers and magazines should be reviewed.
• The censorship on the Press, the only independent media in the country,
was thus invoked.
• The reaction of the ‘so-called’ independent Press, however, left much to be
desired and except a handful, the print media presented a reluctant and
disinclined picture.
• The easiness with which it relinquished its independence shocked
everyone.
• The sterility of the fourth estate in India along with the ethics of the Indira
government has been discussed at length till today.
• The reaction of the print media to the imposition of internal
emergency and pre-censorship can be divided into two phases:
1. The initial response was an overwhelming sense of despair for loss
of freedom and a feeling of shock and disbelief that Press, along
with an independent judiciary, considered the pillars of democracy
was under threat.
2. The later reaction of most of the mainstream newspapers was
acceptance of the inevitable. They bowed down to the pressure of
the government.
• There were few courageous and protesting voices but their numbers
dwindled in the face of continuous attack of the government on their
operation and economics.
• As L.K. Advani, a prominent opposition leader then and later minister
in the Morarji Desai and Atal Behari Vajpayee governments
underlined in an interview “when Mrs. Gandhi asked the media to
bend, they crawled”.
• Much of the media reaction can be summarized by this comment.
The seeds of the issue- Events Before
• When Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister his daughter Indira
Gandhi became official hostess at events held by him. She learned the
ropes of diplomacy with world leaders herein.
• Indira joined the Congress party in 1955 and became its president in
1959.
• The ascension of Indira Gandhi to the post of Prime-minister of India
in 1966 on the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri was abrupt.
• It is commonly believed that the elders in the Congress picked Indira
as a compromise candidate as they thought she could be easily
molded and was malleable.
• The calculation of the Congress elites behind choosing Indira Gandhi
as a compromise candidate for the post of Prime minister in 1966 was
accurate in a way. As Nehru’s daughter she would garner sufficient
electoral support for the party to remain in power.
• But they were wrong in assuming she would be a weak woman who
could be easily manipulated”. Her resilience and tenacity in the post
of Prime Minister surprised the Congress party elites. Though she did
not have much organizational base in the party she gained control
over her government.
• The elders in the Congress Working Committee realized the dangers
of her escalation in power and sought to oust her from the party. Mrs.
Gandhi turned the tables on the Congress “elites”.
• She removed Morarji Desai, an important leader of the party and one
of her noted opponents from the post of Finance Minister in 1969
and took over the finance ministry herself.
• She overnight enacted some pro-people policies like nationalization
of banks and withdrawal of special privileges from princely states. She
was lauded by the common masses and her popularity soared.
• In 1969 another incident pointed out her resoluteness to defeat her
opponents in the party and emerge as the sole centre of power.
• The Congress party nominated N. Sanjeeva Reddy as the presidential
candidate after the death of the then President Zakir Hussain, against
the wishes of Indira Gandhi.
• Instead of implementing a whip in favour of Reddy, Indira Gandhi in
an open letter urged Congress MPs and MLAs to “vote according to
their conscience” in the forthcoming Presidential election. Nearly
1/3rd of Congress members defied the party leadership and voted for
independent candidate V. V. Giri, the then vice-President who won by
a narrow margin.
• Matters came to a standstill and the then Congress President,
Nijalingappa and others expelled Mrs. Gandhi from the party.
• The Congress party split. Indira Gandhi set up a rival organization, the
Congress (R). In the Lok Sabha floor test, of the 288 Congress MPs
220 remained loyal to Mrs. Gandhi.
• In the 1971 parliamentary elections Mrs. Gandhi’s popularity ensured her a
massive victory. As she rode the crescendo of power in the country trouble
brewed elsewhere.
• There was a bloody conflict between East and West Pakistan. Indira Gandhi
played a decisive role in making the idea of Bangladesh a reality.
• The political and personal role of Indira Gandhi in the Bangladesh
Liberation War established her as the “iron lady” of Indian politics and gave
her international recognition.
• Her efforts to coordinate the activities of the Indian Army with the BSF and
the R&AW are seen as a strategic masterstroke that won the war against
Pakistan in 1971.
• She opened the Indian border to give refuge to 10 million Bangladeshis
fleeing the atrocities of the Pakistani army and helped settle the
government-in-exile of Bangladesh. Not only that, as noted journalist B.G.
Verghese pointed out “she went around the world highlighting the
genocide in Bangladesh and the crossover of millions of refugees to India”.
• India’s intervention and subsequent formation of Bangladesh changed the
shape of South Asia and destroyed several conventions. As Sreeradha Datta
and Krishnan Srinivasan put it, “Indian foreign policy had triumphed backed
by force of arms. The Americans and Chinese...had been trumped, leaving
a compliant Bangladesh, grateful for the Indian sacrifice and support.”
• This achievement established Indira Gandhi - the leader.
The pre emergency period and Indira Gandhi
• The success in the Bangladesh Liberation War elevated Mrs. Gandhi’s
clout and power in office. The power structure within the Congress
party also changed.
• There was the rise of sycophancy, consolidation of the cult leader
status for Mrs. Gandhi which was consequently followed by her
intolerance to criticism.
• The “authoritarian streak” in Mrs. Gandhi’s rule was also becoming
apparent.
1973
• But despite her triumph in the sphere of foreign policy and her
omniscient status in the Indian political scenario, she could not rein in
political dissent growing within the country.
• In 1973 in Gujarat a mass agitation sparked off over shortage of food
and rise in food prices. The Nav Nirman movement led to the
dissolution of the state legislature and imposition of President’s rule
in the state. When re-elections were conducted in June 1975, the
Congress was defeated by an alliance of the opposition parties.
1974
• In Bihar, in April 1974, Gandhian leader Jayaprakash Narayan,
popularly known as JP threw his weight behind a student agitation
against the Congress state government.
• His call for “total revolution” led to an agitated mass movement.
• The role and crusade of JP against the existing political and social
system needs to be discussed in a little detail here to understand the
situation in the country just before the imposition of Emergency.
1975
• Between June 12 and 25, 1975 the Congress and the Opposition went
all out to drum up public support and organised rallies and
demonstrations.
• On 23rd June, 1975 Gandhi addressed a massive rally in Delhi’s Ram
Lila ground JP addressed a counter rally on the addressed a massive
rally in Delhi’s Ram Lila ground.
• JP addressed a counter rally on the same ground on 25th June. It was
at this meeting that JP issued his most controversial call to the police,
armed forces and government servants not to obey the government’s
“illegal and immoral” orders.
• Sandwitched between those two days was another important date in
this roster of dates– 24th June, the day the Supreme Court had issued
a conditional stay on the Allahabad High Court order, pending final
disposal of Gandhi’s appeal.
• Indira Gandhi had been increasingly led to believe that the time had
come for the JP-led Opposition parties to be ‘tamed’.
• Siddhartha Shankar Ray offered a solution:
• Impose a state of internal Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution.
Gandhi took his advice. Thus, the 12th June judgement became the trigger for
the imposition of the Emergency on 25th June 1975.
June 25, 1975
• Meeting in Ramlila Maidan, Delhi
• On June 25, Morarji Desai said, "We intend to overthrow her, compel
her to resign ... The lady will not survive our campaign ... Thousands
of us will surround her house to stop her from leaving."
• Both JP and Morarji Desai had conveniently set aside the Gandhian
values they had adopted in their public life before they became
obsessed with the removal of an elected prime minister, ignoring
even the Supreme court.
• It is futile to speculate on the course of history had Indira Gandhi not
been unseated on 12th June or had V R Krishna Iyer reversed the
Allahabad High Court judgement on 24th June.
• Would the country have been spared the trauma of the 21-month
Emergency if she had not lost the case?
Emergency and press censorship
• Of course Mrs. Gandhi did not choose a democratic or ethical way out
following the court mandate and the increasing opposition pressure.
• Mrs. Gandhi justified the imposition of Emergency on three grounds.
1. Firstly India’s stability, integrity, security and democracy were endangered
following the disruptive character of the JP movement. Referring to JP’s speeches
she accused the opposition of inciting the armed forces and the police to rebellion.
2. Second, Mrs. Gandhi wanted to implement a program of rapid economic
development for the poor and the underprivileged.
3. And third she warned the country of foreign intervention and subversion with the
aim of destabilizing and weakening India. As we are aware along with the
imposition of Emergency, censorship on the Press was also declared.
• The lady who once said that the power to question was the basis of
human progress muzzled the right to question of the mass media who
were an important institution in the democratic process.
Press
• The Press on its part was skeptical about Indira’s ability to pull off as prime
minister from the moment she assumed office.
• They referred to her as “goongi gudiya” aka Ram Mohan Lohiya and were
almost dismissive of her ways of working.
• Perhaps, Indira was not in a position to take on the media during her initial
tenure but with time as she started to control the Congress party and her
government she sought to control the Press too.
• This became imminent when she recorded a resounding victory in 1971
parliamentary elections and helmed the Bangladesh war.
• She was more confident and challenged the operations and management
of the print media.
• Various threats were held out by her Government and steps proposed to
curb that section of the Press, which was thought to be the most
independent.
• Perhaps to that end she tried to limit the amount of newsprint used by the
larger English medium dailies and regulate their circulation through the
introduction of the Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act.
• In the Parliament, Mrs. Gandhi declared freedom of the Press did not mean
going against the national policy of the country.
• The newspapers successfully fought the 1972 restrictions arguing that the
act would "cut at the roots of democracy“ since the large newspapers were
"the only medium" of mass communication in India, and "the only
counterbalance to the ruling party's views."
• During the summer of 1975, as Indira Gandhi became increasingly
threatened by the mounting criticisms of her government, and sensed
a surging support of the Press towards JP and the opposition
movement.
• She declared a state of internal Emergency and took control of the
Press, prohibiting their reporting of all domestic and international
news without government consent.
• Her government expelled 7 foreign correspondents and banned 29 others
from entering India.
• It withdrew accreditation from more than 46 reporters, 2 cartoonists and 6
photographers who normally covered the capital and 258 journalists were
arrested during the 21 month Emergency period.
• Kuldip Nayar, an internationally prominent journalist was arrested under
MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act).
• Government advertisements were withheld to 100 newspapers and
periodicals to suffocate them financially.
• The print media understood it would be difficult to enjoy freedom during
Emergency.
Article 19(1)(a) and Article 19 (2)
• We know that Article 19(1) (a) of the Indian constitution guarantees
Freedom of Speech and Expression to all citizens of India including the
Press.
• The second part of Article 19 enumerates the restrictions on the Freedom
of Speech and Expression.
• The Indira Gandhi government used the "security of the state" and
"promotion of disaffection" specified in Article 19 (2) as its defense for
imposing strict control on the Press.
• The airwaves comprising the radio and television were under state control
in India during 1975; by imposing restrictions through Article 19(2) on the
print media the government was successful in controlling the entire mass
media.
Media response to Emergency measures
• With freedom comes the responsibility to uphold that freedom under all
circumstances. Sadly during Emergency, most of India’s domestic dailies
gave up the battle for Press freedom after the initial protest.
• For the first two days there was some semblance of opposition from some
section of the print media. Blank editorials appeared as a gesture of
protest. Official threats caused these to vanish in no time.
• Thereafter there was, by and large, meek submission to the drastic
curtailment of Press and personal freedoms.
• As L K Advani famously said, “When Indira Gandhi asked the media to
bend, it crawled.”
• Their pages were "filled with fawning accounts of national events, flattering
pictures of Mrs. Gandhi and her ambitious son, and not coincidentally,
lucrative government advertising”.
• The Hindustan Times, one of the leading English-language dailies, headed
by Mr. K.K. Birla, a prominent Indian industrialist became a strong
supporter of the government during emergency.
• He was aspiring to be a Rajya Sabha MP supported by Indira Gandhi,
• The Times of India, one third of whose directors were government
nominees, soon surrendered its independence and reflected the official
line.
• Political cartoons disappeared overnight and no one dared put out any
cartoon of Mrs. Gandhi which was unflattering.
• The Hindu, in south India, believed discretion to be the better part of
valour and acted accordingly.
• There was support for Emergency from even journalists like
Khushwant Singh, who at the time was the editor of “The Illustrated
Weekly of India”. He observed “By May 1975 public protests against
Mrs. Gandhi’s government had assumed nationwide dimensions and
often turned violent.
• With my own eyes I saw slogan-chanting processions go down Bombay
thoroughfares smashing cars parked on the roadsides and breaking shop-
windows as they went along.
• Leaders of opposition parties watched the country sliding into chaos
as bemused spectators hoping that the mounting chaos would force
Mrs. Gandhi to resign.
• The proprietors, owners and journalists had their own reason for
supporting the Emergency.
• The Board of The Times of India, for example, decided that the paper
would not oppose the Emergency, because whatever their opinion of
the matter, the law was to be followed and this was the law at that
point of time.
• A senior journalist of the paper Inder Malhotra stated “We cannot
speak against it, it was decided, and as it was a privately owned
paper, we had to follow suit. A few of us proposed that if we couldn’t
speak against it, we wouldn’t support it either, and that was the final
position the paper took.”
• The content of the newspapers also reflected this sanitized and
detached approach.
• “India’s Sterile Press”, referring to the sterilization drive of the Indira
Gandhi government under the supervision of her son Sanjay Gandhi,
was filled with ineffectual government handouts of the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting.
• Most of the reports were equivalent to government propaganda.
• L. K. Advani observed, “Following the censorship of the Press there
was hardly any difference between one paper and another. They were
all drab and dull, inane and insipid, mere reproductions of official
handouts”.
• Writer Gnani Sankaran who was then a reporter in the Indian Express,
Chennai edition opined there was no other option with the
newspapers. He wrote, “The Censor wanted to kill newspapers by
delaying approvals.
• Along with letting pages go blank, sometimes innocuous and frivolous
stuff like how to make onion raita (salad) had to be printed since
political news could not be taken without consent.”
• These are certainly cases where the print media’s journalistic and ethical
standards fell through but at the same time there was very little in terms of
content that the newspapers could print bypassing censorship strictures.
• It was the first time after Independence that pre-censorship on the Press
have been imposed on the Indian Press. It implied the government would
decide the news and information to be disseminated by the newspapers on
all policies, programs and even individuals.
• So instead of the editors and journalists playing their role as independent
watchdogs in the democratic system, the government became the
‘gatekeeper’ of all news.
• The government issued Central Censorship Order and Guidelines for
the Press in the Emergency period.
• The Central Censorship Order imposed under rule 48 of the Defense
of India Rules, 1971, addressed all printers, publishers and editors
and prohibited the publication of news, comments, rumours or other
reports relating to actions taken by the government without their first
being submitted for scrutiny to an authorized government official (the
Censor).
• In the initial days an official from the office the Chief Censor officer
was sent to each daily newspaper in the evening though later the
process was discontinued for obvious logistic reasons.
• The strictures on the Press sometimes bordered on the ludicrous.
• Quotations of Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal
Nehru were banned as they were used against British rule and now
may be used out of context against the present government.
• Innocuous news’ which had little to do with criticism against
governmental action or measures were not allowed to be published
like the black out of some unpleasant news about the criminal
convictions of an actress and of some businessmen.
• The Censor’s scissors were applied arbitrarily and in a few cases the
decisions ‘bordered on the farcical’.
Resistance
• Of course there were some newspapers who protested tooth and nail
against censorship during the Emergency besides many smaller,
independent newspapers and journals like Himmat.
• The Indian Express and The Statesman, fought courageously against
Indira Gandhi's dictum on the Indian Press.
• The Indian Express Delhi edition on June 28, 1975 carried a blank first
editorial and the Financial Express reproduced in large type
Rabindranath Tagore’s poem “where the mind is without fear and the
head held high” concluding with the prayer “Into that heaven of
freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
• A small fortnightly newsmagazine, India Today was launched in
October 1975, right in the middle of the Emergency.
• In the two issues that came out after the declaration of Emergency,
Himmat chose to leave its editorials blank. Thereafter, it decided to
write until it was informed that it had violated some guidelines.
• Despite some bold fights and stubborn stands by these print media it
was clear that Indira Gandhi had as strong a grip on the Indian Press
as she had on Indian politics, during the emergency.
Three methods to manipulate the Press
• The surrendered media said the options available to newspapers and
reporters during Emergency were limited owing to the coercive
methods applied by government.
• Indu B. Singh has pointed out Mrs. Gandhi used three methods to
manipulate the Press:
(1) allocation of government advertising;
(2) shotgun merger of the news agencies; and
(3) use of fear-arousal techniques on newspaper publishers,
journalists and individual shareholders.
The first method
• During the 1970s the Indian newspapers depended a great deal on governmental
advertising.
• Without revenues from this head it was difficult for many Indian newspapers to
stay in business.
• Unfortunately, this kept them vulnerable to government manipulation for years.
While this remained a latent worry for the newspapers, the Indira Gandhi
government made it evident that it is going to use this against newspapers.
• As if to reinstate its point the government at the beginning of the imposition of
Press censorship, withdrew its advertising support from The Indian Express and
The Statesman when they refused to abide by the governmental censorship.
• As the emergency continued this kind of financial chastisement was used on
other newspapers who failed to toe the government line.
The second method
• The second way that the Indira administration applied to control news flow to newspapers was
the merger of the four privately-owned Indian news agencies, Press Trust of India (PTI) and United
News of India (UNI) in English and the Samachar Bharti and Hindusthan Samachar in Hindi.
• The main purpose behind this merger was to alter the management of the Indian news agencies
and control much of the content of the newspapers. As Singh pointed out since these agencies
had been acting as the gatekeepers of information, it was essential for Indira Gandhi to control
the gatekeepers and consequently become the gatekeeper. To effect such a merger, the
government carried out several strong-arm tactics.
• First of all, pressure was put on the members of boards of these agencies.
• Then the financial squeeze was applied to the agencies themselves by withholding governmental subsidy.
• Thirdly, the government threatened to cut-off the tele-printer services, the lifeline of a news agency.
• The government-owned Post and Telegraph Department threatened to impose a suspension of
services to the UNI if it resisted the merger.
• Chitra Kanungo added the news agencies were threatened with non-payment of large arrears of
subscription due to them by AIR unless they agreed to merge. It goes without saying that the
government gained immense power by the merger of the news agencies.
The third method
• The third way in which Mrs. Gandhi’s government held the Press with iron
fist was direct reprisals if the Press ignored the threats and warnings of the
government.
• There were false charges with regard to tax arrears, threats of reductions in
newsprint quotas, imprisonment of publishers and their immediate
families, threats of shutting down the Press, and removal of governmental
housing and other facilities for Delhi-based journalists.
• Ramnath Goenka, the proprietor of the Indian Express described his ordeal
thus, “The government, acting under the personal directions of Indira
Gandhi, abused its authority and subverted lawful processes to liquidate
me and my group of companies economically and made me an object of
public ridicule and shame”.
• It is widely known that within hours of declaration of Emergency on
the midnight of June 25, 1975, electric supply was cut down at
Bahadurshah Zafar Road, the hub of newspapers in New Delhi to
prevent the newspapers from printing the breaking news of
proclamation of Emergency.
• Tavleen Singh, a journalist with The Statesman then has revealed how
newspapers that were submitted to the censors at Press Information
Bureau, New Delhi for ‘pre-censorship’ were returned so late at night
they could be sold before 8 am in the morning, when there were
hardly any takers for them.
• Marcus F. Franda observed Indira Gandhi's justification for the
repression of the Indian mass media was based on three major
assumptions.
(1) economic productivity and social justice are more important
than civil liberties and freedom of expression:
(2) the Press in India was acting in a manner that seriously
hindered the state in its efforts to promote economic
productivity and social justice; and
(3) a drastic contraction of civil liberties and Press rights will
advance the state's ability to promote those causes.
• Commenting on this rationale for Press censorship, Henry Hart wrote:
• It is premature to pose a choice between freedom and economic justice
before we know whether the immediate contraction of civil liberties and
suspension of elections will further economic productivity and redistribution.
• This is a predictive question to which social scientists have their contributions
to make. So Indira Gandhi’s conclusion that suspending civil rights and press
liberty will bring forth economic regeneration and growth was simply illogical.
• Besides these drastic steps the Indira Gandhi government resorted to several
related strictures which affected the production and circulation of the print
media.
• On the cut off of electricity service to the Delhi newspapers soon after the
declaration of Emergency, the White Paper on the Misuse of Mass Media during
the Emergency commented “Conscious that the implementation of censorship
may take time, and in the meanwhile the Delhi papers at least may come out with
screaming headlines about the cataclysmic events, the government resorted to
blatant illegality.
• Power supply to newspapers (in Delhi) was cut off. According to Delhi Electric
Supply Undertaking, oral instructions were received by them from the Lieutenant
Government of Delhi that this be done.
• Most Delhi newspapers were, therefore, unable to bring out their editions on
June 26, 1975.”
• The ethical degradation of the Indira Gandhi government in the imposition
of the emergency is obvious. But the response of the Press, the majority of
it was unbecoming.
• Talking about the response of the print media in general to the emergency
and pre censorship laws, one of the legal luminaries, Soli Sorabjee
observed, “The first and most crucial round of battle for freedom of the
Press and civil liberties was lost without a struggle in the first week after
the emergency.’’
• The absurdity and illegality of the Censor’s action was not lost on the
newspapers and their editors but barring a valiant few the others were
unwilling to challenge it in the court of law. This was unfortunate as
contesting in the court of laws proved effective.
• In the Binod Rau V/S M R Masani case the Bombay High Court on
April, 1976 ruled among other things, “if there is a right to praise
either an individual or the government, there is equally a right to
criticize the individual or the government…….”
• The fact of the matter was that fear had struck the print media.
Editors were more interested in saving their jobs and printers did not
want to risk forfeiture of their presses.
• This stance of the majority of the print media was thus disapproving.
The clamour for Press freedom did not translate into fight to stave off
attack on Press freedom.
• Ghosh wrote “At a meeting on June 26, 1975 Indira Gandhi laid down the
broad policy in respect of media.
• At this meeting, it was proposed
• to abolish the Press Council,
• fuse the four news agencies into one,
• review the advertisement policy by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual
Publicity (DAVP) with respect to newspapers,
• withdraw the housing facilities given to journalists and
• deport the foreign correspondents not willing to fall in line.”
• Her despotic stance against the print media was ably implemented by
Vidya Charan Shukla, handpicked by Sanjay Gandhi as the Information and
Broadcasting minister.
White Paper on Misuse of Mass Media
• As the White Paper on Misuse of Mass Media during the Internal
Emergency underlined,
• “The press and films, otherwise outside the control of government were
made to dance to the tune of the rulers by a set of draconian laws which
reduced press freedom to naught and there was consistent abuse of authority
in the matter of disbursing advertisement, allocation of newsprint and release
of raw stock for films.”
Moral Policing
• Moral policing has been rapped repeatedly by many in the electronic
and print media.
• Curiously, crusaders against moral policing have mostly maintained an
eloquent silence on political policing by the ruling party.
• This is not the first time that political policing has been undertaken
when the interests of the first family of the Congress party is at stake.
• The White Paper on the Misuse of the Mass Media during the Internal
Emergency published in 1977 by the Government of India, provides a
list of such political censorship.
• The film Aandhi was cleared in January, 1975. The Congress party believed
that the leading actress had a character similar to the then prime minister.
Immediately, after the imposition of the Emergency, it was banned in July
1975.
• It was only when the producer agreed to cut out certain scenes from the film and
restructure the story, that it was again cleared in March 1976.
• The film on Watergate titled All the President's Men was blocked by the
government during the Emergency, and released only after the Congress
Party was voted out of power in the Lok Sabha elections of 1977.
• A film titled Kissa Kursi Ka, which was submitted for clearance to the
censors during the Emergency, was destroyed by burning reels of the film
— for which criminal prosecution was separately initiated.
Backgrounder: The Case Indira Gandhi lost
• The State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain (1975 AIR 865, 1975 SCR (3)
333) was a 1975 case heard by the Allahabad High Court that found
the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral
malpractices.
• The ruling on the case that had been filed by the defeated opposition
candidate, Raj Narain, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha invalidated Gandhi's
win and barred her from holding elected office for six years.
• The decision caused a political crisis in India that led to the imposition
of a state of emergency by Gandhi's government from 1975 to 1977.
Raj Narain
• Raj Narain had contested the 1971 Indian general election against Indira Gandhi, who
represented the constituency of Rae Bareilly in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian
Parliament.
• Gandhi was re-elected from Rae Bareilly by a two-to-one margin of the popular vote, and her
Indian National Congress (R) party won a sweeping majority in the Indian Parliament.
• Narain filed a petition to appeal the verdict, alleging that Indira Gandhi used bribery, government
machinery and resources to gain an unfair advantage in contesting the election.
• Narain specifically charged Gandhi of using government employees as election agents and of
organising campaign activities in the constituency while still on the payroll of the government.
• Gandhi was represented by Nanabhoy Palkhivala, Raj Narayan by Shanti Bhushan.
• After she imposed a state of emergency on 26 June-1975, Palkhivala resigned as her lawyer to
protest against the decision.
• When the Janata Party came to power in 1977, Palkhiwala was appointed Ambassador to US.
• Shanti Bhushan became a minister in the Janata Party government.
Judgement
• On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha found Gandhi guilty of
electoral malpractices. Sinha declared the election verdict in the Rae
Bareilly constituency "null and void", and barred Gandhi from holding
elected office for six years.
• While Sinha had dismissed charges of bribery, he had found Indira
guilty of misusing government machinery as a government employee
herself.
• The court order gave the Congress (R) twenty days to make
arrangements to replace Gandhi in her official posts. This was
unprecedented.
• Its impact finally led to the fall of Congress regime at the centre
immediately after emergency. Raj Narain became a national hero for
overthrowing Gandhi's and the Congress's regime after 30 years of
independence, initially by trouncing Gandhi in judicial battle and later
in 1977 Loksabha elections. This fulfilled an unrealised dream of his
friend and mentor Ram Manohar Lohia.
• Gandhi appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court of India, which
granted a conditional stay of execution on the ruling on 24 June 1976.
• On 7 November 1976, the Supreme Court of India formally
overturned the conviction.
• When the government finally called elections in 1977, the opposition
Janata Party alliance defeated Gandhi's Congress (R) party.
• Raj Narain defeated Indira Gandhi in the Rae Bareilly constituency by
a margin of 55,200 votes.
• Once fresh elections were scheduled for December 1979, many
started believing that Indira Gandhi’s return to power was possible,
perhaps probable.
• Only her staunch loyalists considered it certain. Her advantages were
obvious, of course, even though her critics hoped that her “cardinal
sin” of imposing the Emergency would be an albatross round her
neck.
• The Janata coalition was only united by its hatred of Gandhi (or "that
woman" as some called her). Although freedom returned, the
government was so bogged down by infighting that almost no
attention was paid to her basic needs. She was able to use the
situation to her advantage.
• She began giving speeches again, tacitly apologizing for "mistakes"
made during the Emergency, and garnering support from icons like
Vinoba Bhave. Desai resigned in June 1979, and Singh was appointed
Prime Minister by the President.
• Singh attempted to form a government with his Janata (Secular)
coalition but lacked a majority.
• Charan Singh bargained with Gandhi for the support of Congress MPs,
causing uproar by his unhesitant coddling of his biggest political
opponent.
• After a short interval, she withdrew her initial support and President
Reddy dissolved Parliament, calling fresh elections in 1980.
• Gandhi's Congress Party was returned to power with a landslide
majority.
Indira’s later years
• Gandhi's later years were bedevilled with problems in Punjab.
• A local religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was first set up by the local
Congress as an alternative to the regional Akali Dal party, but once his activities
turned violent he was excoriated as an extremist and a separatist.
• In September 1981, Bhindranwale was arrested in Amritsar, but was released
twenty five days later because of lack of evidence. After his release, he relocated
himself from his headquarters at Mehta Chowk to Guru Nanak Niwas within the
Golden Temple precincts.
• Disturbed by the spread of militancy by Bhindranwale's group, Gandhi gave the
Army permission to storm the Golden Temple to flush out Bhindranwale and his
followers on June 3, 1984.
• Many Sikhs were outraged at the perceived desecration of their holiest shrine,
which remains controversial in terms of timing and effect to this day.
1984
• On October 31, 1984, two of Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards Satwant
Singh and Beant Singh assassinated her in the garden of the Prime
Minister's Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi.
• As she was walking to be interviewed by the British actor Peter
Ustinov filming a documentary for Irish television, she passed a wicket
gate, guarded by Satwant and Beant; when she bent down to greet
them in traditional Indian style, they opened fire with their
semiautomatic machine pistols.
• She died on her way to the hospital, in her official car, but was not
declared dead until many hours later.
What had happened that led to the
emergency
• Before this proclamation of emergency in June 1975 Allahabad HC
had in election petition has held Indira Gandhi in corrupt practices
and she was disqualified by her public office and in next 6 years she
can't assume any public office.
• Indira Gandhi than took this order to Supreme Court but at that time
Supreme Court was on vacation.
• And opposition people were demanded resignation and in all over the
country wide spread agitation took place.
• On 25th June 1975 night without the consent of the Council of
Ministers Indira Gandhi had written an application to president.
• Generally, president have to Proclaim emergency he has to take Aid
and Advice of the Council of Ministers.
• But this time only on the words of Prime Minister the emergency was
proclaimed.
Gujarat- Morarji Deasi
• It all started in January 1974 with a youth and students' movement in
Gujarat.
• The agitation was aimed at the removal of Chief Minister Chimanbhai
Patel for leading what the protesters called a "corrupt and inept"
administration, calling itself the Nav Nirman movement.
• Morarji Desai, who had lost the race for Prime Minister to Indira
Gandhi twice in 1966 and 1967, blessed the campaign.
• The veteran leader, still nursing his aspirations, saw the unrest of the
students as a golden opportunity and plunged himself into the
movement's head.
Bihar- Jayprakash Narayan (JP)
• At the same time, agitation in Bihar for the removal of Bihar CM
Abdul Ghafoor began.
• This was led by Jayaprakash Narayan, a leader of Sarvodaya, and once
a close associate of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the struggle for liberty,
who after the mid-1950s kept himself away from politics.
• For what he called "Sampuran Kranti," or Total revolution, JP, as he
was popularly known, initiated a nationwide agitation, starting with
Bihar.
JP
• JP asked students to boycott classes, abandon their schools and colleges for a
year, and campaign for his "Total revolution" to organize the people.
• He told the students of Bihar: "You will have to make sacrifices, face lathis and
bullets misery and fill up gaols."
• Adding fuel to the fire was George Fernandes, a labour leader who led railway
workers in a national strike in 1974 in an attempt to paralyze the transportation
system of the country and its economy.
• JP called on all opposition parties to join his movement, although some of them,
like Jan Sangh and the Communists, were ideologically separated from each
other.
• His first and foremost mission was to "throw out Mrs. Gandhi's government" and
then create a "partyless democracy" after crushing Congress. This was a vague
idea that was never completely established and attracted media scrutiny.
Earlier in 1975
• On January 2, 1975, the Minister of Railways, L.N. Mishra was blown up by
a bomb planted on a platform in Samistipur, where he was attending a
function.
• It was alleged that trade unionists loyal to George Fernandes were
involved.
• On February 15, in New Delhi, JP addressed government employees and
urged the Army and the police not to follow "illegal" orders.
• Morarji Desai started a "fast to death" in Gujarat on March 11, demanding
the dismissal of the state government and new elections. The 79-year-old
Gandhian leader worked on this pressure strategy.
• Mrs. Gandhi decided to dissolve the Assembly and hold fresh elections in
June. The elections were held where the five-party alliance of JP and
Morarji Desai defeated the Congress badly.
Earlier in 1975
• Yet there was worse to come. The lightning bolt hit on June 12, 1975, the
same day.
• The news was received on the PMO's ticker machine that an Allahabad
high court judge had ruled that Indira Gandhi was guilty of electoral
malpractice during the 1971 general election.
• The verdict invalidated the election of Mrs. Gandhi as an MP and for six
years debarred her from holding an elective office. There were fairly minor
charges in which Indira Gandhi was found guilty but the nation's mood was
different.
• "Indira must go" was the cry from one end of North India to another.
• Jayaprakash Narayan announced that "the existence of democracy in India
will be incompatible with her remaining in office."
June 1975
• In the Supreme Court, the order of Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha was
open to appeal.
• One of the most renowned constitutional lawyers in the world, Nani
Palkivala, happened to be in New Delhi on the day of the verdict. He
decided to appeal the verdict on Mrs. Gandhi to the Supreme Court
and told her that there was no political or legal justification for her to
step down until her appeal had been heard.
• On June 24, the holiday judge of the Supreme Court, Justice V.R.
Krishna Iyer, gave his decision. He permitted the Allahabad verdict to
remain conditional. But the order to remain just strengthened JP and
Janata Morcha's demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister.
June 1975
• On June 25, Morarji Desai said, "We intend to overthrow her, compel
her to resign ... The lady will not survive our campaign ... Thousands
of us will surround her house to stop her from leaving."
• Both JP and Morarji Desai had conveniently set aside the Gandhian
values they had adopted in their public life before they became
obsessed with the removal of an elected prime minister, ignoring
even the Supreme court.
• It was these circumstances, on June 26, 1975, that led Mrs. Gandhi to
enforce the emergency.
Backgrounder- 1. Economic Issues
• Economic Issues
• India's support for the independence of Bangladesh has had a serious
effect on India's foreign reserves.
• In 1972 & 73, consequent monsoon failure affected the availability
food and fuel prices in India.
• Large-scale unemployment and economic contraction resulted in
industrial strife and strike waves in various parts of the country,
culminating in the May 1974 - All India Railway Strike.
Bangladesh
• India’s stunning victory over Pakistan in the Bangladesh war was
achieved in part because of Soviet military support and diplomatic
assurances.
• The Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation, signed in mid-1971
by India with the Soviet Union, gave India the arms it used in the war.
• With the birth of Bangladesh, India’s already dominant position in
South Asia was enhanced, and its foreign policy, which remained
officially nonaligned, tilted further toward the Soviet Union.
Backgrounder- 2. Judiciary's executive tussle
Judiciary's executive tussle:
• The constitution was amended by the Union government under Indira
Gandhi's leadership to allow it to abridge fundamental rights.
• But, later, the Supreme Court ruled in the Kesavananda Bharti case that
certain fundamental features of the constitution cannot be amended.
• Furious with the SC decision, the long-term precedence of naming most
senior judges of SC as Chief Justice was modified by the Union
Government.
• While hearing the plea of Socialist leader Raj Narain on the legitimacy of
Indira's victory over Lok Sabha, Allahabad HC ruled in his favour and set
aside her victory and ruled her election invalid based on misuse of
authority.
Backgrounder- 3. JP Movement
• In 1974, Gujarat students protested immensely against the increase in
prices of food grains, cooking oil, and other basic commodities later
joined by political parties.
• Similar unrest was initiated in Bihar by students in March 1974,
motivated by the efforts and progress of the Gujarat student
movement.
• JP Narayan called for "Sampooran Kranti" (Total Revolution) to protect
democracy from the authorization of Indira Gandhi.
Backgrounder- 4. Marxist and Naxal groups
• There was also an increase in the activities of Marxist groups who did
not believe in parliamentary politics.
• These groups had taken to arms and insurgent techniques for the
overthrow of the capitalist order and the established political system.
Backgrounder-5.India’s Nuclear Program-1974
• In a last-ditch but futile effort to support Pakistan, a nuclear-armed aircraft carrier of the
U.S. Pacific Fleet was sent to the Bay of Bengal, ostensibly to evacuate civilians from
Dhaka, but the war ended before any such assistance could be rendered.
• Many Indians viewed the aircraft carrier’s presence so close to their own shores as
provocative “nuclear weapons rattling.”
• By 1972 India had launched a nuclear program of its own, detonating its first
plutonium-armed device under the sands of northwestern Rajasthan state in May
1974.
• The atomic explosion was felt in Pakistan’s neighbouring Sindh province and triggered
that country’s resolve to produce a bomb of its own as swiftly as possible.
• Pakistan subsequently forged stronger ties with China and with Muslim countries to the
west but found itself further diminished as a potential challenge to Indian hegemony
over South Asia
Other Factors - 5. Sanjay Gandhi
• The other causes for imposing Emergency was an overdependence on
her younger son, Sanjay, both in the emotional capacity as well as in
case of administration and an overwhelming intention of
manipulation by Sanjay Gandhi and his coterie.
• Her son, Sanjay Gandhi wanted India to switch to presidential form of
governance and see his mother as the President of the country for
life.
• As political commentators have time and again pointed out he was no
less responsible for the imposition of Emergency and the
machinations thereafter as Mrs. Gandhi herself.
Effects of Emergency
• 1975s Internal emergency was most restrictive and pressurize emergency.
• Constitutional amendments
• Fundamental rights were curtailed
• Political opponents were arrested
• Insensitive government programme
• Press censorship
• Emergency (president < cabinet of ministers) president satisfaction = final
and conclusive
• Safeguarding security of India
• The union government misused its emergency powers and curbed the
people, opposition parties, and the press' democratic rights.
• Electricity was disconnected from the newspaper rooms, and leaders of
opposition parties were arrested.
• Via "Press Censorship," the government curtailed press freedom and made
it necessary to receive its permission before publishing it.
• No marches, strikes, and public unrest were permitted.
• The government misused the provision of preventive detention and
imprisoned the opposition parties' political staff.
• During the emergency, torture and custodial deaths occurred, forced
displacement of poor citizens, compulsory sterilization imposed for
population control.
42 nd Amendment
• The Emergency Declaration highlighted the fault lines that can be
manipulated to bring about an authoritarian rule in Indian democracy.
• In 1976, during the time of internal emergency, the 42nd
Constitutional Amendment Act was passed, which strengthened the
union executive and contributed to the further centralization of
power.
The 42 nd Amendment
• There were four main purposes for this amendment:
• Exclude the judiciary from election controversies entirely;
• Strengthen the central government vis-à - vis the governments of states
• To provide socially transformative legislation with full immunity from a judicial
challenge;
• To minimize judicial interventions in legislative matters.
• The amendments could not be challenged on any basis in any court;
and there should be no restriction on the power of Parliament to
amend the Constitution 'by way of extension, variation, or repeal.'
POST Emergency Effects
Prominent changes were made by the 44th Constitutional Amendment
Act to include protections against the abuse of emergency provisions:
• Under Article 74(1), the President may require the Council of
Ministers to reconsider any advice submitted to him, but the
President must act by the advice submitted following such
reconsideration.
• To restore the authority of the High Courts to issue writs on matters
other than the protection of fundamental rights i.e. Article 226 was
amended.
Article 352
• Article 352 was amended to provide that a declaration of emergency
may be issued only if war or external invasion or armed rebellion
threatens the security of India or any part of its territory.
• ‘Internal Disturbance’ which does not amount to armed rebellion
shall not constitute the basis for such an Emergency Proclamation.
• It became mandatory for the President to issue an emergency
declaration only after the cabinet conveyed it to him in writing.
• The Emergency Proclamation shall be approved by a resolution of the two
Houses of Parliament within one month (instead of two months) and shall
be approved by a majority of the total membership of each house and by a
majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting in
each house, instead of a simple majority.
• Approval by resolution of the two houses of parliament will be required
every six months for the continuation of the emergency.
• The Emergency Proclamation will be repealed once the Lok Sabha passes a
resolution repealing it by a simple majority.
• A special meeting to discuss a resolution disapproving of the proclamation
may be convened if demanded by 10 percent or more Lok Sabha members.
Books on Emergency in India