June 25th commemorates the anniversary of the 1975 Emergency declared by then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed upon the advice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Gandhi imposed the Emergency hours after the Supreme Court granted a conditional stay on the Allahabad High Court verdict declaring her election to Lok Sabha null and void and instructed her to stay away from parliamentary proceedings.
The top court also ruled that the privileges which Gandhi had enjoyed as a Member of Parliament would no longer be applicable, and she was even barred from voting but was allowed to continue as Prime Minister.
Gandhi justified the Emergency by citing a deep and widespread conspiracy against her government and internal disturbances.
Political analyst Vinod Kumar Shukla told Sputnik India that the reasons given to justify the 1975 Emergency were not valid.
Shukla argued that the internal disturbances in the country were too minor for the Emergency to be considered a viable solution. He further pointed out that in a democratic nation, citizens have the right to express their dissatisfaction with the government. Therefore, he claimed that invoking an Emergency based on internal disturbances is not justified.
Shukla underscored that Gandhi's decision to enact the mode was primarily motivated by the fear of losing elections.
He further noted that it was suggested that
Indira Gandhi could have tolerated the defeat but her son Sanjay Gandhi was not ready to accept it, so he convinced her to declare the Emergency.
Shukla believes that the
law and order situation in the country is a state subject, so Indira Gandhi could have given powers to the government to handle the situation, moreover it could have been curtailed by deploying paramilitary forces.
Meanwhile, in order to address the mounting anger among the populace, Indira Gandhi should have engaged in one-on-one talks with various groups such as student unions, labour unions, and railway federations who were voicing their concerns, he asserted. However, instead of taking this course of action, she made a hasty decision, Shukla concluded.