The Government of India notified June 25 as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas and announced a year-long programme from June 25, 2025, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. A series of articles appeared in newspapers, denouncing the Emergency. No attempt is made to understand, let alone dispassionately assess, the situation in the country, particularly the period between the liberation of Bangladesh in December 1971 and the proclamation of the Emergency on June 25, 1975.

A very concerted effort is made, both by the government and the so-called opinion makers in the media that is partisan, to present a popular Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the worst dictator that India ever had. It is a conscious attempt to obliterate all her achievements, such as the Green Revolution that made India self-sufficient in foodgrains; the nationalisation of 14 private banks to make the credit system extended to the poor and the marginalised across the country; the abolition of privy purses and derecognition of the princes; the dismembering of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh by defying the Pakistan-China-America axis against India - redrawing the world map – thereby securing India the greatest military victory in its history; the redrawing the political map of South Asia by merging Sikkim into India on May 16, 1975; and conducting the first nuclear test on May 18 facing western sanctions, to name a few of her remarkable accomplishments. Failing to acknowledge all this is a great disservice to the 'Iron Lady of India' and the nation.

Prior to the proclamation of the Emergency, the situation in India in the 25th year of the Republic was grim and chaotic, posing a serious threat to democracy, unity, and integrity. On February 9, 1974, the Navnirman students' movement in Gujarat, which led to large-scale violent riots, looting, and destruction of public property, forced the Congress Chief Minister, Chimanbhai Patel, to resign on allegations of corruption, preceded by an indefinite fast by Morarji Desai. To replicate this movement, socialists and rightwing organisations came together in Bihar and formed the Chhatra Sangharsh Samithi led by Jayaprakash Narayan. His call for Sampoorna Kranti (total revolution) on June 5 at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan brought Bihar to a standstill. He demanded the resignation of the Congress government in the state.

In May 1974, socialist leader George Fernandes led an unprecedented indefinite strike of railway workers that paralysed the Indian Railways – the largest public transport sector, employing more than 17 lakh people and serving as the nation's lifeline. The railway minister, LN Mishra, was killed in a bomb blast on January 3, 1975, at Samastipur Railway Station.

On June 12, 1975, Justice Jag Mohan Lal Sinha of Allahabad High Court declared Indira Gandh's election to Lok Sabha in 1971 from Rai Bareli null-and-void, and debarred her from contesting election for six years, on two flimsy grounds: (a) that she used the services of her OSD Yashpal Kapoor as her agent, going by the date of notification in the Government of India Gazette and not accepting the actual date of his resignation; and (b) that she used huge rostrum and public address system by utilising the services of the public servants to address an election rally. Incidentally, it was the opposition BLD government of Charan Singh in Uttar Pradesh that provided the security cover, as the serving Prime Minister, according to protocol. If this norm were applied today, the Modi elections could have been declared void on many occasions, as his election campaigns always involved utilising the entire State machinery.

However, Justice Sinha had granted the Prime Minister three weeks to appeal in the Supreme Court. And when her appeal was argued by eminent jurist Nani Palkhivala before the vacation court, Justice Krishna Iyer granted her stay on June 24. And on June 25, the opposition leaders addressed a massive public rally in Ram Lila Maidan, Delhi, when Jayaprakash Narayan gave an open call to the army, the police and the civil servants not to accept orders from the 'illegal government,' and demanded her immediate resignation, and announced the country-wide agitation. The same night, Indira Gandhi declared the national Emergency. The Emergency was proclaimed under Article 352 of the Constitution, and all executive powers were exercised within the framework of Articles 358 and 359, which provide for the suspension of fundamental rights during the Emergency.

In hindsight, one could argue that the proclamation of Emergency had saved Indian democracy from being derailed by the internal and external forces inimical to India. It was she who revoked the Emergency, released the people detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), the Defence and Internal Security of India Rules (DISIR) and the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA), lifted the press censorship, and ordered the elections held in March 1977, accepted her defeat and the people's verdict against her party and restored the democracy suspended for 18 months. The political detainees were given 'A' grade treatment in prison. The common people were not affected by the Emergency. In fact, her 20-point programme uplifted the poor and the marginalised like never before. The Emergency is called a 'golden period for Dalits and STs.'

The Modi government observing June 25 as the Samvidhan Hatya Diwas is an insult to the Indian people. It is a falsification of history. The misrule of the Janata Party – an unholy alliance of five desperate political outfits, Congress(O), Jan Sangh, Bhartiya Lok Dal, Socialist Party, and Congress for Democracy— had resulted in the mid-term election to Lok Sabha in January 1980, when the Congress won a massive victory and Indira Gandhi returned to power. She apologised for the excesses in the implementation of the family planning programme and the demolition of slums. Because of these excesses, the Congress lost badly in North India. In South India, where the Emergency had no negative impact, the Congress secured 92 Lok Sabha seats out of 165 in the 1977 election, 21 seats more than it secured in the 1971 election. Several governments have come and gone since then, yet the ghost of the Emergency is still haunting the BJP government.

To talk of the excesses of the Emergency and of 'murder of democracy,' even after 50 years, is to practice brinkmanship. It is an attempt to cover up the RSS-BJP support to the Emergency and the Modi government's failure to safeguard democracy and the constitution. The Judiciary, the Parliament, the Media, the public institutions- all are under siege, suffocated, struggling to break free. There has been an undeclared emergency in the country for the past 11 years, during the Modi era. Questions have been raised about the election commission being partisan and failing to conduct free and fair elections, as well as allegedly tampering with the electoral rolls.

In another shocking development, the UGC, a regulating body of higher education, vide its letter dated June 25, 2025, directed the University Vice Chancellors and College Principals to observe June 25 as the Samvidhan Hatya Diwas and hold seminars and debates; and screen the film produced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and report the activity to the Ministry of Culture.

Prashant Bhushan, in an interview with the New Indian Express on June 27, 2025, said that it is to the credit of Indira Gandhi that she revoked the Emergency and called for elections. "Unfortunately, if you look at High Courts and Supreme Court, put together, overall independence of the Judiciary is below the level of independence during the Emergency… independence of the Judiciary has deteriorated. Many judges of high courts did not succumb to the emergency pressures and delivered courageous judgments." He claims that the Modi government has been compiling dossiers on judges and their family members to intimidate them, thereby preventing them from delivering judgments that may be unfavourable to the government. He believes that the scale of atrocities committed under the undeclared Emergency in the Modi regime was never seen during the Emergency.

The book "India's Undeclared Emergency" by Arvind Narrain, a lawyer and research scholar, undertakes an in-depth study of India under Modi. India's most respected civil liberties organisation, People's Union for Civil Liberties says, "undeclared Emergency has been clamped all throughout the country and rights of the citizens are being snatched away under the guise of patriotism and cultural nationality, freedom of speech, writing and expression are being banned and systematic efforts are being made to harass the activists who are struggling from defending, preserving and promoting the human rights. Any voice of dissent is being repressed in the name of treason or sedition." The Modi government keeps critics in check by utilising the State's instrumentalities, including the CBI, the NIA, the Enforcement Directorate, tax authorities, and anti-terror laws such as the UAPA.

The Higher Judiciary is not independent. The independence of the Judiciary is compromised. The closeness between the Executive and the Judiciary through the chief justiceship of Misra, Gogoi and Bobde during 2017-21 is best symbolised by Gogoi taking oath as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, just four months after his retirement, which Justice AP Shah called a "death knell for the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary."

And when he was the Chief Justice of India, Gogoi invented a device for accepting government replies in a 'sealed cover.' The contents of the 'sealed cover' were not known to the other parties to the litigation, thus fundamentally impinging on the right to a fair trial. He employed this method in litigations related to the Rafale, electoral bonds, and the NRC, as well as in many other matters, rendering justice opaque.

The unexplained death of Judge Loya, when he was overseeing a politically charged trial involving the current home minister Amit Shah and the inability of the higher Judiciary to ensure that there was a transparent investigation into the death of one of their own is compelling evidence that the Judiciary is not immune to the State's cruel excesses.

Our concern should not be to dwell on the Emergency of 1975, but rather how to liberate ourselves from the undeclared Emergency imposed on the nation since 2014 and to restore constitutional democracy.