International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 11, November 2020, pp. 1212-1221. Article ID: IJM_11_11_114 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=11 Journal Impact Factor (2020): 10.1471 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.11.2020.114 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE AND NATIONAL EMERGENCY (1975-77): A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF A DEBATABLE ERA OF INDIAN POLITICS Violet Hazarika Dibrugarh University, Assam, India ABSTRACT Democracy is the most celebrated political ideology in today's context all over the world. Passing through an asymmetric trajectory, the Indian State has emerged to be the largest democracy in the world. The Indian Constitution, which guarantees a democratic polity and equal rights to its people, also contains some provisions that give vast power to the State machinery. Here, reference could be made to the Emergency Provisions of the Indian Constitution, which empower the State with enormous power that sometimes causes infringement of the rights of its people as well. The study attempts to investigate and scrutinize the role of the Indian state in providing the rights of its people during the imposition of National Emergency in 1975-77 Key words: Democracy; Emergency; Rights; Press censorship; Arbitrary Acts. Cite this Article: Violet Hazarika, Rights of the People and National Emergency (1975-77): A Critical Analysis of a Debatable Era of Indian Politics, International Journal of Management, 11(11), 2020, pp 1212-1221. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=11 1. INTRODUCTION The development of the political temperament across the globe, progressively paved the way for the emergence of State as the most dominant institution of the political structure and placed it in the core of entire power-authority relationship. Most of the States, in the contemporary time opted for the democratic approach of operation for the welfare of its people. Democracy, as a political manner of State functioning, comes with various other dimensions which are essential for a dignified life of the people. Rights, liberty, equality, justice, freedom are some values which encompass democracy and people are very aware about these values these days. These inter-allied concepts have been in the political discourse for centuries, but with the advent of the modern State exercising enormous power (in most of the time legitimate power), the rights-based politics and political discourse have moved http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1212 [email protected] Rights of the People and National Emergency (1975-77): A Critical Analysis of a Debatable Era of Indian Politics through a topsy-turvy terrain. There are many examples in history as to how people’s rights have been violated by repressive States. The Indian experience since independence is also not so pleasant in this regard. The present study is qualitative in orientation. The analytical method of social research is applied and data collected from archival sources have been presented with scientific and systematic explanations. Secondary sources viz. books, articles, journals along with government documents and data have been used comprehensively. The primary data are collected from the debates in parliament on important Constitutional Amendments and the judgements of Supreme Court on various such amendments, enacted laws and executive orders. The study begins with a discussion on colonial legacies in the contemporary status of people’s rights in India and throws light on some milestone evidences and explanations of the violation of the rights of the people since independence. Following this, it critically discusses the context of declaring National Emergency in 1975 and its consequences in three sections, i.e. civil rights, arbitrary acts and censorship of press. The final sections discuss the revoke of emergency and the report of the Shah Commission. 2. FROM COLONIAL LEGACIES TO CONTEMPORARY STATUS OF PEOPLE’S RIGHTS IN INDIA Most of the third world countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America became familiar with the European liberal democratic principles during the colonial regime only. The interaction between these countries with the West had a tremendous impact not only on the anti-colonial movements, but also on their society and politics even after their independence from the colonial ruler. It was for the first time that these countries, including India, came across the modern concept of rights, liberty, freedom, justice, secularism, etc. with the advent of western-based modern education. As a result, the people of India became aware about these concepts and started struggling for independence and right to self-governance. The Indian state, since the inception of its independence, is well known for promoting a democratic apparatus in its progression. After getting independence from the British colonisation, India adopted the form of democracy for its people. The inclusion of the concepts of rights, liberty, justice, secularism, etc. in the newly adopted Indian Constitution can be traced back to the time of colonial regime. The new Constitution of India has been empowered with certain basic rights for its people along with the incorporations of Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles of State Policies, which are meant for the upliftment of the dignity of the people of India. Since then the Indian State has taken several active initiatives to promote rights, liberty, freedom, justice and equality of its people. However, in this long trajectory, the Indian State has undergone an asymmetrical experience in debates and movements, between the State and civil society, basically on the issue of rights. Whilst looking at the constitutional provisions, Part III of the Indian Constitution, from Article 12 to 35 deals with the ‘Fundamental Rights’ of the people without any discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, religion, place of birth, language and so on. These rights are incorporated for promoting the notion of democracy, which is functional in preventing the establishment of authoritarian and despotic rule of the State and to protect the liberties and freedom of people from the incursion of the State. Along with the Fundamental Rights, in the Indian Constitution, there are provisions of the Directive Principles of the State Policies (DPSP) in Part IV, from Article 36 to 51, to establish a social and economic democracy in the State. The Fundamental Duties of the citizen are incorporated in the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1213 [email protected] Violet Hazarika Committee. The Fundamental Duties are non-justiciable and are also applied only to the citizens of India. 3. EVIDENCE AND EXPLANATIONS OF INFRINGEMENT OF PEOPLE’S RIGHTS IN INDIA However, it would be wrong to assume that all the government initiatives, acts and laws passed by the parliament are in favour of its people, since in many cases these have raised threat to the enjoyment of rights, liberty and freedom of the people. Within the framework of the Indian Constitution, some provisions provide for the scope for suspension of democracy and denial of Fundamental Rights, which in many times leads to the debate on the crisis between the State on one side and the rights of the people on the other. With the monopoly over the legitimate use of force and power, at times, the Indian State has turned out to be a centre of violence and has created what is called as ‘State-sponsored violence’. Here, in this context, some of the controversial acts passed by the Indian government, i.e. Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958 (AFSPA), Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act (TADA), Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) can be pointed out. All of these above- mentioned acts portray the coercive character of the Indian State, which seems to be non- democratic in nature and works as an instrument of infringement of people’s rights to a large extent. Whilst examining the anti-democratic manner of the Indian State and infringement of people’s rights in the post-independence era, apart from the above-mentioned acts and laws, the central focus turns to the Emergency Provisions under Article 352-360 in part XVIII of the Indian Constitution. The basic objective behind the inclusion of these provisions is to uphold the sovereignty, unity, integrity and security of the country, the democratic political system and the constitution. But during the operation of an emergency, the Central Government turns out to be absolutely powerful and the States involuntarily become subordinates of the Centre. It transforms the federal set up of Indian polity into a unitary one without a single amendment of the Constitution. 4. CONTEXT OF THE DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY IN 1975 The National Emergency in India has been proclaimed three times till now, i.e. in 1962, 1971 and 1975. During the Chinese aggression, it was proclaimed for the first time in October, 1962 and was in operation till 1968. As it was in force during the war against Pakistan in 1965, a fresh proclamation was not obligatory at that time. For the second time, it was proclaimed in December, 1971, during the Pakistan war. When the second proclamation was still in force, yet the third National Emergency was proclaimed in June, 1975. Both the second and third proclamation of emergency were revoked in March, 1977. However, the declaration of National Emergency in 1975 is one of the most crucial as well as significant phenomena that has long-lasting political, economic and social impact in the democratic parameter of the post-independent India. The third Declaration of Emergency was unilaterally made by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 25th of June, 1975 and was in operation for 21 months until its withdrawal on 21st March, 1977.