The country recently witnessed the 51st anniversary of the declaration of The Emergency on the 25th of June 1975, which was subsequently revoked in March 1977 after a period of 21 months. The imposition by the President of India acting on the advice of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was based on a variety of considerations and justification given by the government, many of which have been debated by scholars over the decades.
During the period there was a vast incarceration of members of the opposition, or various leaders, students as well as of labour unions and an all round open attack on democratic rights. After the repeal of the Emergency and the General Elections, which brought the Janata Party to power, a condemnation of the Emergency took place on the one hand, and also the subsequent arrest of Mrs. Gandhi and jailing for a short period.
A lot of propaganda has been spread about the restoration of democracy in the land and of due process and of Constitutional Propriety. The current Prime Minister himself has frequently said that the country should watch out against the Emergency and one hears the slogan `never again’. All the above said, it is important to take stock of some of the assumptions that go into the discourse on the other hand, and an appraisal of the current reality in the country.
At the outset, it must be borne in mind that the declaration of the Emergency was not unconstitutional. The 1950 Constitution of India provides for the imposition of Emergency under various circumstances. Over the years, what one has seen in the constitutional arena is the constant strengthening of the Indian state, and the absence of any system of `checks and balances’ supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution, in so far as the distribution of responsibilities between the legislative, executive and the judicial branches of the State. A large number of amendments have been enacted, as well as a host of draconian laws at the State as well as at the Central levels which essentially give untrammelled powers to the State to basically incarcerate anyone who is found to be inconvenient. India boasts of some of the largest numbers of undertrials, and those detained with no recourse to any relief, and even those who are eligible in paper, in practice are denied any relief. The fundamental rights of the right to life and assembly and the like are essentially only guaranteed on paper, and can be taken away at will, even when there is no Emergency prevailing. Life experience shows that in practice there are essentially emergency like provisions continuously in effect, if not de jure, at least de facto.
The Constitution of India is based essentially on the Government of India Acts of the British era, with many add ons, especially Directive Principles borrowed from, e.g., the Irish Constitution. The sovereign power in the country rests in the hands of the Cabinet, and the President of India who is the counterpart of the Constitutional Monarch of Britain is bound to act on the advice of the Prime Minister who leads the Cabinet, even though the President of India proclaims that he or she rules in the name of the people of India. In reality, the State Institutions of the land stand above the people, and have no accountability of any kind. Whereas the power may pass from one individual to another, or one political party to another, those in power are put there by powerful economic interests.
Given the vast poverty of the country and plethora of problems, the State has to navigate between these choppy waters and must wear a `velvet glove over an iron hand’. Given the gulf between the rulers and the ruled, the rich and the poor, the system is one of continuous collisions which need to be managed. While these may be debated ad nauseum, there can be little doubt from the inspection of the draconian laws as well as other gross phenomena in the country that there is no democracy in the country. Periodic elections are meant to smoothen out some contradictions among ruling circles, all of whom represent the interests of the richest of the rich. Anyone who is really interested in understanding the phenomenon of the Emergency must contend with these features of the reality of Indian life.
There needs to be an open debate on the nature of power, of politics, of the electoral system, and of democracy in the country.
By BA and Venkatesh Sundaram
