If the Emergency was so terrible, why didn’t voters punish Indira Gandhi more severely?

In 1977, Congress got 34.5% of national vote (BJP got 31% in 2014). By 1980, voters had completely forgiven it for the Emergency.

Shoaib Daniyal

· Jul 23, 2015 · 03:30 pm

In media's Emergency analyses, Indira stood as proxy for anxieties about Narendra Modi

Many commentators alluded to a very contemporary situation: the persistence of a personality cult that could perhaps be used to stamp out liberties.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Jul 14, 2015 · 10:30 am

First person: The story behind how Sanjay Gandhi slapped Indira six times at a dinner party

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lewis M Simons recounts how he got the story and the reaction of Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi when he met them long after the Emergency had been lifted.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Jun 26, 2015 · 01:30 pm

What drove Sanjay Gandhi and his coterie during the Emergency?

While the forcible sterilisation programmes appeared aimed at the poor population at large, Muslims were a special target.

John Dayal

· Jun 26, 2015 · 11:30 am

Five hilarious defences from people who insist: 'All India needs is a dictator'

Indian people, other than B-Tech graduates, don't know what's good for them.

Rohan Venkataramakrishnan

· Jun 25, 2015 · 08:00 pm

Five reasons why the BJP loves the Emergency

The party looks back at the 21 months during which the Constitution was suspended with the sense of nostalgia many people have for their childhoods.

Vrinda Gopinath

· Jun 25, 2015 · 12:30 pm

What if the Emergency hadn’t happened: would the Jan Sangh still be ‘political untouchables’?

The Emergency is a well known but little examined event. It is for this reason that the BJP claims itself as the winner of the episode in history.

Arvind Rajagopal

· Jun 25, 2015 · 09:10 am

The midnight knock of the Emergency: how Indira Gandhi arrested her opponents

All the arrests were to be made simultaneously so that there was an element of surprise, and those on the list could not be forewarned and thus evade arrest.

Coomi Kapoor

· Jun 25, 2015 · 08:30 am

BJP is mythicising its anti-Emergency role ‒ it did not face the brunt: academic DL Sheth

'This is the only thing they have to celebrate,' says the renowned political scientist. 'Behind its celebration they can hide their past'.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Jun 24, 2015 · 02:30 pm

The Emergency at 40: you know the facts, now read the fiction

The finest novels about the darkest period for Indian democracy have all become modern classics.

Anu Kumar

· Jun 24, 2015 · 08:30 am

'Himmat' during the Emergency: When the Press crawled, some refused to even bend

When Indira Gandhi suspended the Constitution, some journalists maintained their independence despite State repression. Why can't today's journalists find ways to resist corporate control to tell readers the truth?

Kalpana Sharma

· Jun 23, 2015 · 09:05 am

How Sanjay Gandhi and his coterie implemented a programme of conveyor-belt sterilisations

Forty years ago this month, Indira Gandhi suspended the Constitution and declared an Emergency. This excerpt from 'For Reasons of State' recalls the programme of forced vasectomies and tubectomies that was instituted during the period.

John Dayal and Ajoy Bose

· Jun 22, 2015 · 02:30 pm