The National Council of Educational Research and Training has, for the first time, introduced the topic of the Emergency imposed from 1975 to 1977 in a Class 9 social science textbook, ANI reported on Thursday.

The section has been added to the textbook Understanding Society: India and Beyond. The Emergency has been made part of a chapter that deals with the strengths and challenges of democracy in the country.

Until now, a detailed examination of the Emergency only took place in the Class 12 political science curriculum, which includes extracts on the political, constitutional and democratic implications of the period, India Today reported.

“One of the major challenges to democracy in India was recorded when an Emergency was imposed in 1975-77,” the section reads, according to ANI. “In the early 1970s, public dissatisfaction with the government led by Indira Gandhi was growing. Rising unemployment, inflation, and allegations of misgovernance led to widespread protests.”

The textbook says that during the Emergency, most fundamental rights were suspended, the press was censored, and political leaders and activists were arrested.

The book also highlights the role of socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan in resisting the Emergency.

“Mass movements led by Jayaprakash Narayan – a political leader and socialist thinker, popularly known as Lok Nayak-mobilised students and citizens, especially in Bihar and Gujarat,” the book was quoted as saying by ANI. “The Emergency was lifted in 1977, and general elections were held, allowing people to express their will through the ballot.”

The book said that the defeat of the Congress in the 1977 general election showed the “strength of Indian democracy and highlighted the importance of democracy.”

The NCERT’s decision came as the Emergency completed 51 years on Thursday.

The Emergency was imposed by Congress leader and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975, after the Allahabad High Court disqualified her from elected office for six years, holding that she had misused government machinery during the 1971 election campaign. It was lifted on March 21, 1977.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, whose leaders were among those jailed during the Emergency, has frequently criticised the Congress for this period, when constitutional rights and civil liberties were suspended in the country.

The Congress, on its part, has often accused the BJP of running an “undeclared emergency” since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. It accused the BJP of destabilising institutions such as the courts and the Election Commission, suppressing critical media coverage and misusing central investigative agencies.

Edited by Sneha.

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