Background to the Emergency

By the early 1970s, Indira Gandhi was hugely popular, but tension was building:

• Party competition had become bitter.
• The government was clashing with the courts (next lesson).
• Opponents felt that power was becoming personal, centred on one leader.

The economy was in trouble too:

• the cost of caring for the Bangladesh refugees and of the 1971 war;
• the US stopped its aid to India after the war;
• world oil prices shot up in 1973;
• the monsoons failed, and farm output fell.

Prices rose by 23 per cent in 1973 and 30 per cent in 1974. Unemployment grew, especially among the educated young. Discontent spread.

Gujarat: in January 1974, students protested against rising prices of food and essential goods, and against corruption. The movement forced the state government out; fresh elections were held in June 1975, and the Congress lost.

Bihar: in March 1974, students began a similar movement and invited Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), the veteran Gandhian and socialist, to lead it. JP called for 'total revolution' (sampoorna kranti): a complete change in society, the economy and politics. He took the movement beyond Bihar, and it became a national challenge to Indira Gandhi.

Railway strike: in May 1974, the socialist trade union leader George Fernandes led a nationwide railway strike, demanding better pay and conditions. The government declared it illegal and crushed it; it did not win its demands, but it added to the unrest.

In 1975, JP led a huge march to Parliament in Delhi. Opposition parties gathered around him. What began as local discontent had turned into a national movement.