Americans of a certain age still remember what they were doing when John F. Kennedy was shot dead. Similar is the position of those of us who, on the morning of this day 34 years ago, heard — first from the BBC and then from Indira Gandhi’s broadcast — that India was under a state of Emergency. A 19-month nightmare followed notwithstanding her bland assurance that there was “nothing to panic about”.

Though stunning, the Emergency was in a way a culmination of extraordinarily tumultuous, often violent, events that included Nav Nirman in Gujarat and the formidable JP Movement, so named because it was led by the highly respected Gandhian leader, Jayaprakash Narayan, better known as JP. He was convinced that “authoritarian” Indira’s continuance in office was “incompatible” with the survival of democracy in India. She believed equally firmly that “fascist” JP was acting in pursuance of a “foreign conspiracy” against her and the country. Basically, her problem was that shortly after her apotheosis in 1971, her government had started losing its moral authority because of egregious corruption by her cohorts. A massive economic crisis, compounded by the 1973 oil shock, had added to her vulnerability. Yet she had enough following among the people and enough draconian laws at her disposal to be able to cope with the challenge. What stumped her was the judgment of the Allahabad high court.

On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha, convicted her of “corrupt election practices,” set aside her election to the Lok Sabha and debarred her from public office for six years. He also gave all concerned 20 days to make “alternative arrangements”. Almost literally all hell broke loose. The charges against her were trivial, but so strong was the sentiment against her that the country resounded with the cry: “Indira Must Go”.

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