The Crisis of Constitutional Order
Q. Name the president who proclaimed emergency in 1975.
Ans:- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.
Q. When was the national emergency due to internal disturbance declared for the first
time in India?
Ans:- In 1975 (Under article 352).
Q. Explain the lessons India got from the emergency.
Ans:- The Indian political system learned a number of lessons from the emergency
period. These are as follows:-
i. Emergency period brought out the strength and weaknesses of Indian democracy. After
the emergency, democracy in India became more stronger and vibrant. This proves that
even during emergency Indian democracy was not completely over.
ii. The importance of free judiciary and bureaucracy was felt during the emergency.
Bureaucracy should be neutral and loyal to the constitution. Similarly, the judiciary
should not be under the ruling party and should safeguard the rights of the citizens.
iii. The government should always rule according to the provisions of the constitution.
The Constitution is supreme and the supreme court must safeguard its sanctity, without
this the constitution would be threatened.
iv. During this period the ambiguity present in the constitution around emergency was
removed. At present internal emergency can be declared only in case of armed rebellion.
The council of ministers should give a written advice to the president to declare
emergency.
V. Emergency made people about their civil liberties. Judiciary started to play an active
role in safeguarding the rights and liberties of citizens. During this time a number of
organizations were formed. One of them is the People's Union for Civil Liberties and
Democratic Rights. In a conference held in 1980 it was renamed as People's Union for
Civil Liberties (PUCL).
vi. Emergency also taught the lesson that the freedom of news media should be
safeguarded. For the success of democracy a free and fair media is required. Media plays
an important role in creating awareness among the citizens.
Q. Explain the consequences of the emergency.
Ans:- The consequences of emergency are as follows:-
i. During the emergency Indira Gandhi concentrated all the powers in her own hands and
cut down the civil liberties as well as freedom of political opposition. Her government
gave the explanation that strikes, popular movements will hamper government work as
well as the national economy.
ii. A number of political leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan, Raj Narayan, Morarji Desai,
Choudhury Charan Singh, Jeevatram Kripalini, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Satyendra Narayan
Sinha were arrested and put in jail. The government cut off the freedom of press.
iii. Government banded number of groups like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and
Jamiat - i - Islami. A number of communist leaders were also arrested. All fundamental
rights were suspended during the emergency.
iv. Government implemented the Preventive Detention Act during the emergency.
According to this, people can be arrested before doing anything on the assumption of
that he will commit a crime. A number of laws were passed during emergency, these laws
are called black laws.
Q. Explain the initiatives taken by Janata Government.
Ans:- Janata Party after coming to power tried to correct the policies that Congress took
during emergency. The important initiatives by Janata Government are as follows:-
i. Through the 44th amendment Janata Government tried to correct the negative impact
of 42nd amendment that was initiated during emergency.
ii. Right to property was removed from fundamental rights and kept as a legal right.
iii. The term of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was again changed from 6 years to 5 years.
iv. The president was given more power send back any advice to the council of ministers
for reconsideration.
v. The power of supreme court and high courts were restored.
vi. Janata Government gave more importance to fundamental rights than directive
principles.
vii. All the controversial laws passed during emergency were canceled.
Moreover, Janata Government registered a number of cases against Congress
leaders relating to misuse of office and power and put them at the disposal of
Tribunals.But nothing much happened. In most of the cases police couldn't submit any
evidence.
Q. Explain the conflict between Judiciary and Executive.
Ans:- The conflict between Congress and the judiciary went to extreme during 1970s.
Indira Gandhi became a more authoritarian political leader In her quest to control every
aspect of Indian politics. In such a situation the supreme court challenged his dominance
of Indira Gandhi. This led to three constitutional questions. They are as follows:-
i. Can the parliament abolish fundamental rights? The supreme court's answer was
negative.
ii. Can the parliament reduce the right to property through an amendment? Again, the
supreme court said that the parliament can't amend the constitution in such a manner
that rights are curtailed.
iii. Can the parliament reduce fundamental rights for the sake of directive principles?
However, the supreme court also rejected this provision.
This led to a crisis as far as the relation between the government and the judiciary
is concerned. Further, two more developments were added to the tension between the
judiciary and the executive. In 1973, immediately after after the supreme court's decision
in the Keshavananda Bharati case, a vacancy arose for the post of chief justice of India. It
had been a practice to appoint the senior-most judge of the supreme court as the chief
justice, but in 1973, the government set aside the seniority of three judges namely, J.M.
Shelat, , K.S. Hegde and A.N. Grover and appointed A.N. Ray as the chief justice. This
appointment became politically controversial because all the three judges who were
superseded had given rulings against the stand of the government. These three judges
resigned in protest. Indira Gandhi's government faced a lot of criticism because of this.
Indira Gandhi's supporters came out with a statement that India needed committed
bureaucracy and judiciary.
Indira Gandhi's conflict with judiciary reached an extreme level after the
judgment of Allahabad High court. Raj Narayana filed a case against Indira Gandhi of
cheating and misuse of government vehicle in 1971 elections. On 12th June 1975, the
chief justice Jagmohanlal Sinha said that Indira Gandhi is guilty and declared her
election invalid and said that her Lok Sabha seat is vacant. The high court also banned
Indira Gandhi from fighting any election for the next 6 years. This judgment strengthened
people's belief in judiciary and democracy in India.
Q. Write a note on Naxalite movement
Ans:- An armed movement was started in 1967 in West Bengal's hilly district Ok
Darjeeling by a barmer's rebel group. This group was formed under the local leaders of
Communist Party Of India (Marnist) in the area of Naxalbari. This movement spread
quickly to other areas. This movement is called the Naxalite movement. Later a faction
from CPI (M) came out under Charu Mazamdur and formed the communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist). Later this Party also had to experience division. The Naxalites
Snatched land from rich landlords and distributed it among the poor. This movement was
Suppressed by West Bengal's Congress Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Roy. Even
now inspired by this movement Maoists are operating in the adivasi dominated areas Of
Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand.
Naxalites are considered far-left radical Communists, Supporters of Mao Zedong's
political ideology. Its Supporters advocated Use Of Violent means to achieve their
Political goals. Currently about 75 districts in 9 States are affected by the naxalite
movement. These people wanted to end the political and capitalist system. To end this
system, they were used to do guerrilla warfare. Violence was committed by these people
at many places in the country.
Q. Write a note on Navnirman movement in Gujarat.
Ans:- The students' movement in Gujarat against the state government of Congress
influenced the entire nation. Students started a movement in 1974 against shortage of
food products, inflation and price rise, massive corruption at higher levels of the
government. The Navnirman movement started with the agitation against hostel fee hike
by 20% in the L.D. COllege of Engineering. Others supported this movement and
demanded resignation of Chimanbhai Patel led Congress government. Due to this
movement, president's rule was put on Gujarat. The opposition parties demanded
election to the state assembly. Morarji Desai who was the then leader of Congress(O)
extended support to the opposition's demand. At the end, Congress was forced to
declare assembly elections in Gujarat. In this election held in June, 1975 Congress faced
a humiliating defeat.
The main objective of the Navnirman movement was to remove corruption from
the state of Gujarat. The students demanded that the government should take action
against corrupt officials and should work towards the development of the state. The
Navnirman movement had a significant impact on the political and social landscape of
Gujarat. In addition, this movement led to the emergence of new political leaders and
political parties in the state. The Navnirman movement inspired other anti-corruption
movements in India. E.g. the Jan Lokpal Movement, which was led by Anna Hazare in
2011. Overall, the Navnirman movement was an important chapter in the history of Indian
politics.
Q. Explain the consequences of 1977's Lok sabha election.
Ans:- The election of 1977 has a lot of relevance in Indian politics. Some of the important
consequences of this election have been discussed below:-
i. End of Congress dominance:- This election ended the dominance of Congress at least
for sometime. Congress was defeated in the lok sabha election for the first time.
Congress won most seats in southern India and also did well in states like Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Orissa. On the other hand, it lost heavily in northern states.
ii. First coliation government in center:- After the election of 1977, the first coalition
government was formed in the center. Along with Janata party a large number of other
parties joined the government. The trend of coalition government in India continues till
now.
iii. Reservation of OBC's:- After the election of 1977 the issue of reservation of Other
Backward Classes was discussed a lot. In Bihar,this issue became very controversial. To
solve this problem the Janata Government formed the Mandal commission.
The election resulted in a heavy defeat for the Indian National Congress (INC), with the
incumbent Prime Minister and INC party leader Indira Gandhi losing her seat in Rae
Bareli, while her son Sanjay Gandhi lost his seat in Amethi.The call for restoration of
democracy by revoking the Emergency is considered to be a major reason for the
sweeping victory for the opposition.
Q. Explain the controversies regarding emergency. Was the emergency necessary? Give
reasons.
Ans:- The controversies regarding emergency are described below:-
i. The Indian Constitution simply described internal disturbances as the reason for
declaring Emergency.
The government argued that in a democracy, the opposition parties must allow the
elected ruling party to govern according to its policies. It felt that frequent recourse to
agitations, protests and collective action are not good for democracy. This leads to
instability and distracts the administration from its routine task of ensuring development.
ii. The critics of the Emergency argued that ever since the freedom movement, Indian
politics had a history of popular struggles. Jaya Prakash Narayan and many other
opposition leader felt that in a democracy people had the right to publicly protest against
the government. The Gujarat and Bihar agitations peaceful. Those who were arrested
were never tried for any anti-national activity. The threat was not to the unity and integrity
of the country, but to the ruling party and to the Prime Minister herself. The critics say
that Indira Gandhi misused the constitutional provision meant for saving the country to
save her personal power.
iii. The government used powers given by the constitution and suspended the
democratic functioning. It said that it wanted to use the Emergency to bring law and
order. The Indira Gandhi led government announced a twenty-point programme and
declared its determination to implement this programme. In the initial months, the urban
middle classes were generally happy over the fact that agitations came to an end. The
poor and rural people also expected effective implementation of the welfare programmes.
Thus, different sections of society had different expectations from the Emergency.
iv. Critics of Emergency indicated that most of these promises by the government
remained unfulfilled, that these were simply meant to divert attention from the excesses
that were taking place. Therefore, the Emergency of 1975 brought out both the
weaknesses and the strengths of Indian democracy. It brought out some ambiguities
regarding the Emergency provision in the Constitution that have been rectified since.
Also the Emergency made everyone aware of the value of civil liberties.
In my opinion it was necessary to declare emergency because the opposition was
creating problems in proper functioning of the government. Apart from this, a lot of riots
and unrest were taking place to upset the Congress. Congress(O) and other opposition
political parties came together to let down Indira Gandhi. Therefore, Indira Gandhi had to
declare emergency.
Q. Write a note on Bihar Movement.
Ans:- The student community of Bihar came forward to protest against rising prices, food
scarcity, unemployment problem, corruption in government etc.
The Bihar movement was led by popular Gandhian freedom fighter and socialist leader
Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan. An eminent leader of the Quit India Movement Narayana
declined the invitation to join Nehru's cabinet. He was the general secretary of Congress
Socialist Party and Socialist Party. In 1995 he retired from active politics. Students
requested him to take the responsibility of leadership for the movement. He agreed on
two conditions. Firstly, the movement must be completely non-violent and secondly, it
should be strictly limited to Bihar. But under the leadership of Jayprakash Narayana the
movement took a political shape and caught the eye of the entire nation. Under his
leadership people from all sections of the society started joining the movement. He
demanded the resignation of the Congress government of Bihar. While the movement
was non-violent, Bihar government refused to resign. Bihar movement slowly started
influencing beyond Bihar. Jayprakash Narayana gave up his earlier stand and decided to
carry the movement beyond Bihar.
Q. Write a note on Janata Government.
Ans:- Amidst excitement the Janata government was formed at the centre. Morarji Desai
became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. But this was not easy for Desai.
Choudhury Charan Singh of Bharatiya Lok Dal and ex Congress Minister Jagjivan Ram
Along with Desai was other contenders for the post of Prime Minister. Desai's Prime
Ministership pointed out the internal conflicts in the Janata government.
After a few months of coming into power the Janata government started to become
unstable. Indira Gandhi predicted that due to internal conflicts the party will break down.
Lack of co-operation was being reflected among the various parties of the government.
They were working on their own. These parties had not given up their ideologies. From
the beginning there was a good relationship between Bharatiya Lok Dal and Bharatiya
Jana Sangh. As a result Choudhury Charan Singh was given both the Finance Ministry as
well as the post of Deputy Prime Minister. On the other hand Raj Narayan was not made a
minister. In such a situation the foundation of the Janata government became weak. We
have already mentioned that Janata Party had no ideology, leadership or common
programme. In the same time it could not bring much change to the policies of the
previous governments. Finally after 18 months the party disintegrated and Morarji
Desai's government lost majority. After that Choudhury Charan Singh formed a
government with Congress support but it lasted for only four months. As a result in 1980
a mid-term election was held. And in this election Congress under Indira Gandhi won 353
seats.
Q. Write a note on formation of Janata Party.
Ans:- The Janata Party was formed by political leaders and activists of various political
parties who had been united in opposing the state of emergency imposed in 1975 by the
then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After elections were called in 1977, the Janata Party
was formed from the union of the Congress (0), Swatantra Party, Socialist Party of India,
Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Lok Dal. Congress defector Jagjivan Ram, Hemvati
Nandan Bahuguna and Nandini Satpathy formed the Congress for Democracy and joined
the Janata alliance. The widespread unpopularity of Emergency rule gave Janata and its
allied a landslide victory in the election. According to the Janata party leaders, the 1977
election was a fight between democracy and totalitarianism.
Q. Write about election of 1980 and its impacts.
Ans:- In the election of 1980 Congress again came to power in the centre. With this
victory Congress claimed themselves to be the only socialist and pro-poor party in India.
But after this election Congress changed its tactics. Opposition parties also changed its
functioning. After 1980 opposition parties often came together against Congress and
won in some elections. The National Front gov- emment of V. P Singh and the National
Democratic Front government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee are the examples. Congress is still
questioned about the emer- gency period.
Q. What were the reasons which led to the mid-term elections in 1980?
Ans:- 1. Janata party lacked direction leadership and a common programme.
2. Janata party government could not bring a fundamental change in policies pursued by
Congress.
3. There was a split in Janata Party and the government led by Morarji Desai which lost
its majority in less than 18 months.
4. Charan Singh government was formed due to support of Congress party which later
decided to withdraw its support resulting resignation of Charan Singh government within
four months.
5. All the above-mentioned reasons led midterm elections of 1980 which defeated Janata
Party and again Congress led by Indira Gandhi came back to power by winning 353
seats.
Q. Who introduced Twenty-Point Programme and why?
Ans:- The Congress government led by Indira Gandhi introduced "Twenty-Point
Programme in 1975. to maintain law and order and to restore efficiency including land
reforms, eradication of bonded labour, land redistribution, workers participation in
management etc.
Q. Who started Total Revolution?
Ans:- The concept of total revolution is related to Jayaprakash Narayan.
Jaya Prakash once stated that Total Revolution is a combination of seven revolutions,
viz., political, social, economic, cultural, ideological or intellectual, educational and
spiritual; and the main motive being to bring in a change in the existing society that is in
tune with the ideals of the Sarvodaya.
Q. What do you mean by Emergency period? Mention its results.
Ans:- In India, Emergency period refers to a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi unilaterally had a state of emergency declared across the
country.
Its results are:-
1/ Suspension of fundamental rights.
2/ Censorship of the freedom of press.
3/ Prevention detention acts passed.
4/ Opposition workers and leaders were arrested
5/ Federal structure changed to unitary structure.
6/ Protests, strikes, were declared illegal. .
Q. The 1977 elections for the first time saw the Opposition coming into power at the
Centre. What would you consider as the reasons for this development?
Ans:-
i. Imposition of Emergency: The Emergency proved to a be a blemish on India’s
democratic career, it resulted in the curtailment of civil liberties, of freedom of press,
arrest of people , of political opponents. Emergency affected the life of common people,
it resulted in custodial deaths and torture of number of people.
ii. Excesses during Emergency: Basic liberties of the people were curtailed. Emergency
resulted in the suspension of various fundamental rights, most importantly, right to
approach courts.
iii. Excesses by Sanjay Gandhi: Mrs. Gandhi’s son, Sanjay Gandhi, did not hold any
official capacity, yet exercised controlled over the administration and indulged in forced
evacuation of people, brought about excessive demolition of jhuggis and forced
sterilization of people, creating an outrage.
iv.Arrest of political leaders: Emergency resulted in the arrest of political opponents. The
government made extensive use of preventive detention. Under this provision, people
were arrested and detained not because they had 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.
v. Major amendments: Parliament also made some major amendments to the
constitution; prominent being that the elections of prime minister, president and
vice-president could not be challenged in the court. The government also passed the
42nd Constitutional Amendment that lowered the position of the Judiciary as the
government set aside the basic structure doctrine.
vi. The rise of political alternative: The rise of Janta party served as a political alternative
to the people of the country. Its campaign was focused on the non democratic character
of the Congress’ rule and on the various excesses that took place during this period. In
the backdrop of arrests of thousands of persons and the censorship of the Press, the
public opinion was against the Congress. Jayaprakash Narayan became the popular
symbol of restoration of democracy. People also hoped that a stable government would
be formed from the Janta Party.
Q. Explain the reasons why Indira Gandhi declared emergency in 1975.
Ans:- The followings are the reasons why Indira Gandhi declared emergency in 1975:-
i. Student’s unrest in Gujarat and Bihar: In January 1974, students in Gujarat started an
agitation against rising prices of food grains, cooking oil and other essential
commodities and also against corruption in high places, which was later joined by
opposition parties who demanded fresh mandate in the states. This proved to be fatal for
the Congress, particularly in Gujarat where the Congress was defeated.
ii. Railway strike: In 1974, the employees of Indian railways went on a strike, paralysing
the nation and its economy. The strike, led by George Fernandes, demanded extra bonus,
improvement in the employees’ service conditions and raised the issue of workers’
rights.
iii. Conflict with the Judiciary: The conflict with the judiciary took an ugly turn over the
issue of fundamental rights and directive principles and basic structure of the
Constitution. In response to that, the Supreme Court passed a controversial verdict in the
famous Keshwananda Bharti case according to which the Parliament cannot amend the
basic structure of the constitution. The conflict of interests also arose over the
appointment of A. N. Ray as the chief Justice of India, which became highly politically
controversial.
iv. Allahabad High Court Verdict: The Allahabad High Court passed a judgment declaring
Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha invalid. This order came on an election petition
filed by Raj Narain, a socialist leader and a candidate who had contested against her in
1971 and had argued that Mrs. Gandhi had used government services in her election
Campaign. The verdict had strong implications as it meant that Mrs. Gandhi was no
longer MP and could not remain the PM.
Q. What is the full form of MISA?
Ans:- Maintaiance of Internal Security Act.
Q. What are black laws?
Ans:- A number of laws were passed during emergency in India. These acts are called
‘black laws.’
Q. What is Habeas Corpus?
Ans:- It is a court order directing that a public official presents an imprisoned person to
the court within 24 hours and gives a valid reason for that person's arrest.
Q. Mention the time period of emergency?
Ans:- 25th June 1975 to 23rd March, 1977.
