50 Years After the Emergency, the Citizen-Politician Divide Remains
The Intrinsic Conflict Between Public Needs and Political Power
June 25, 2025
Today marks 50 years since the Emergency was imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975. She suspended constitutional rights, arrested political opponents, and centralised authority in a way that turned the democracy into something unrecognisable almost overnight. The anniversary reminds us that the power we give to our representatives can be used against us, and that the interests of ordinary people and those of the political elite do not always move in the same direction.
The Emergency, which lasted 21 months, stripped citizens of their basic freedoms, silenced dissent and censored the press. The Constitution was treated as an inconvenience rather than the foundational document of the Republic. The judiciary, under pressure or willing compliance, failed to act as a check. Political opponents were picked up in the middle of the night and jailed without trial. Courts were not allowed to grant relief. Even leaders who had fought for India’s freedom were not spared.
The fear seeped into households. People began to whisper instead of speak, afraid that a misstep could cost them their job or freedom. Journalists left blank spaces in newspapers to mark censored content. Students and teachers were watched. Trade unions were told to fall in line or shut down. Across the country, the signal was clear, that nothing stood between the government and total control.
In the name of development and discipline, slums were bulldozed, people were forced to undergo sterilisation, and dissenters were branded as anti-national. In Turkman Gate in Delhi, police opened fire on protesting slum dwellers whose homes were being demolished as part of a “beautification” drive. Across India, there was a silent war on the poor, the marginalised and the disobedient.
The most chilling feature was how easily it happened. A single leader’s decision, backed by a loyal bureaucracy and an unquestioning cabinet, overturned the promise of democratic accountability. The reason given was national security and economic discipline. But the real reason was personal survival.
The Allahabad High Court had found Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractice and barred her from holding public office. Rather than step down, she declared Emergency.
This reveals a truth that people tend to forget during election season. Politicians are not immune to personal interest. The system does not always protect us from the misuse of power.
When we think of politics today, many of the same fault lines are visible. There is a tendency to equate support for a political party with national loyalty. Disagreement is seen as a threat rather than a democratic right. Public institutions are expected to serve those in power rather than the public.
People are made to believe that a party’s success is their own success, and its defeat, their own failure. This confusion between government and country allows leaders to operate without accountability. It makes people forget that the purpose of voting is to serve their own interests, not those of political dynasties or party machines.
The political elite sell stories about nationalism, about religion, about enemies within. These narratives are designed to inflame, not inform. They give people a reason to feel part of a larger mission, while quietly making them ignore issues that affect their own lives, like jobs, food prices, safety, education. Today, the language may be different, but the effect is similar when public debate is narrowed and criticism is treated as treachery.
There is a built-in conflict between what ordinary people need and what politicians want. People care about daily needs like food, schools, safety and fair treatment. Politicians care about getting power and holding on to it. Making these two sides work together needs strong public pressure and transparent systems. But when that pressure is missing and people get caught up in political drama, the gap grows. In 1975, it grew so wide that the government went against its own people. That should not have happened. But it did.
The Emergency was a disaster, not only for those who were jailed or silenced, but also for the entire idea of democratic self-rule. Fifty years later, the need to remain alert has not reduced. The tools of suppression may be subtler now, and the language may be gentler, but the old tension between the “rulers” and the “ruled” remains. If the people forget that their interests are separate from those of the political elite, they will once again pay the price for someone else’s ambition.
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