The Emergency (India) - Declaration of Emergency

Declaration of Emergency

The Government cited threats to national security, as a war with Pakistan had recently been concluded. Due to the war and additional challenges of drought and the 1973 oil crisis, the economy was in bad shape. The Government claimed that the strikes and protests had paralyzed the government and hurt the economy of the country greatly. In the face of massive political opposition, desertion and disorder across the country and the party, Gandhi stuck to the advice of a few close party loyalists and her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, who had become a close political advisor. Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, proposed to Ms. Gandhi the imposition of "internal emergency". He drafted a letter for the President to issue the proclamation on the basis of information Ms. Gandhi had received that "there is an imminent danger to the security of India being threatened by internal disturbances". He showed how democratic freedom could be suspended while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution.

President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed a 'rubber-stamp' appointee who she had got elected earlier on, declared a State of Emergency upon her advice, as the Prime Minister, on 26 June 1975. In her own words, Ms. Gandhi brought democracy "to a grinding halt".

As the constitution requires, Ms. Gandhi advised and President Ahmed approved the continuation of Emergency over every six-month period until her decision to hold elections in 1977.