Political Science · Ch 13 — The Crisis of Democratic Order
Politics after Emergency
Politics after Emergency
The most valuable and lasting lesson of the Emergency was learnt as soon as it ended and fresh Lok Sabha elections were announced. The 1977 elections turned into a referendum on the experience of the Emergency, especially in north India where its impact was felt most strongly. The opposition fought on the slogan of ‘save democracy’. The people’s verdict was decisively against the Emergency. The lesson was clear and has been reiterated in many state-level elections since: governments perceived as anti-democratic are severely punished by voters. In this sense, the experience of 1975–77 ended up strengthening the foundations of democracy in India.
Lok Sabha Elections, 1977
In January 1977, after eighteen months of Emergency, the government decided to hold elections. All leaders and activists were released from jails. Elections were held in March 1977. This left the opposition with very little time, but political developments took place very rapidly.
The major opposition parties had already been coming closer in the pre-Emergency period. Now they came together on the eve of the elections and formed a new party, the Janata Party. The new party accepted the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan. Some Congress leaders who were opposed to the Emergency also joined this new party.
Morarji Desai (1896–1995): Freedom fighter; a Gandhian leader; proponent of Khadi, naturopathy and prohibition; Chief Minister of Bombay State; Deputy Prime Minister (1967–1969); joined Congress (O) after the split in the party; Prime Minister from 1977 to 1979 — the first Prime Minister belonging to a non-Congress party.
Some other Congress leaders came out and formed a separate party under the leadership of Jagjivan Ram. This party, named Congress for Democracy, later merged with the Janata Party.
The Janata Party made this election into a referendum on the Emergency. Its campaign focused on the non-democratic character of the rule and on the various excesses that took place during this period. In the backdrop of arrests of thousands of persons and the censorship of the Press, public opinion was against the Congress. Jayaprakash Narayan became the popular symbol of restoration of democracy. The formation of the Janata Party also ensured that non-Congress votes would not be divided.
It was evident that the going was tough for the Congress. Yet the final results took everyone by surprise. For the first time since Independence, the Congress party was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections.
- The Congress could win only 154 seats in the Lok Sabha. Its share of popular votes fell to less than 35 per cent.
- The Janata Party and its allies won 330 out of 542 seats; the Janata Party itself won 295 seats and thus enjoyed a clear majority.
- In north India, it was a massive electoral wave against the Congress. The Congress lost in every constituency in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab and could win only one seat each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
- Indira Gandhi was defeated from Rae Bareli, as was her son Sanjay Gandhi from Amethi.
A cartoonist’s reading of the 1977 election showed the common man standing with leaders like Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Atal Behari Vajpayee — symbolising the victory of democracy over authoritarianism.
Why the Congress Did Not Lose Everywhere
If you look at the map showing the result of this election, you will notice that Congress did not lose elections all over the country. It retained many seats in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Orissa and virtually swept through the southern States.
There are many reasons for this:
- The impact of Emergency was not felt equally in all States. The forced relocation and displacements, the forced sterilisations, were mostly concentrated in the northern States.
- More importantly, north India had experienced some long-term changes in the nature of political competition. The middle castes from north India were beginning to move away from the Congress, and the Janata party became a platform for many of these sections to come together.
In this sense, the elections of 1977 were not merely about the Emergency.
Janata Government
The Janata Party government that came to power after the 1977 elections was far from cohesive. After the election, there was stiff competition among three leaders for the post of Prime Minister:
- Morarji Desai — rival to Indira Gandhi ever since 1966–67
- Charan Singh — leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal and a farmers’ leader from UP
- Jagjivan Ram — vast experience as a senior minister in Congress governments
Eventually Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister, but that did not bring the power struggle within the party to an end.
Chaudhary Charan Singh (1902–1987): Prime Minister of India between July 1979 – January 1980; freedom fighter; active in the politics of Uttar Pradesh; proponent of rural and agricultural development; left Congress party and founded Bharatiya Kranti Dal in 1967; twice Chief Minister of UP; later one of the founders of the Janata Party in 1977 and became Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister (1977–79); founder of Lok Dal.
The opposition to Emergency could keep the Janata Party together only for a while. Its critics felt that the Janata Party lacked direction, leadership, and a common programme. The Janata Party government could not bring about a fundamental change in policies from those pursued by the Congress.
The Janata Party split, and the government led by Morarji Desai lost its majority in less than 28 months. Another government headed by Charan Singh was formed on the assurance of the support of the Congress party. But the Congress party later decided to withdraw its support, with the result that the Charan Singh government could remain in power for just about 4 months.
Fresh Lok Sabha elections were held in January 1980. The Janata Party suffered a comprehensive defeat, especially in north India where it had swept the polls in 1977. The Congress party, led by Indira Gandhi, nearly repeated its great victory of 1971. It won 353 seats and came back to power.
The experience of 1977–79 taught another lesson in democratic politics: governments that are seen to be unstable and quarrelsome are severely punished by the voters.
Legacy
Was it only a case of return of Indira Gandhi? Between the elections of 1977 and 1980 the party system had changed dramatically.
- Since 1969, the Congress party had started shedding its character as an umbrella party which accommodated leaders and workers of different ideological dispensations and viewpoints.
- The Congress party now identified itself with a particular ideology, claiming to be the only socialist and pro-poor party.
- With the early nineteen seventies, the Congress’s political success depended on attracting people on the basis of sharp social and ideological divisions and the appeal of one leader, Indira Gandhi.
- With the change in the nature of the Congress party, other opposition parties relied more and more on what is known in Indian politics as ‘non-Congressism’. They also realised the need to avoid a division of non-Congress votes in the election. This factor played a major role in the elections of 1977.
In an indirect manner, the issue of welfare of the backward castes also began to dominate politics since 1977. As we saw above, the results of 1977 elections were at least partly due to a shift among the backward castes of north India. Following the Lok Sabha elections, many states also held Assembly elections in 1977. Again, the northern States elected non-Congress governments in which the leaders of the backward castes played an important role.
The issue of reservations for ‘other backward classes’ became very controversial in Bihar, and following this, the Mandal Commission was appointed by the Janata party government at the centre. (You will read more about this and about the role of the politics of backward castes in the last chapter.)
The elections after the Emergency set off the process of this change in the party system.
Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986): Freedom fighter and Congress leader from Bihar; Deputy Prime Minister of India (1977–79); member of Constituent Assembly; also a Member of Parliament since 1952 till his death; Labour Minister in the first ministry of free India; held various other ministries from 1952 to 1977; a scholar and astute administrator. …
The cartoon, published in The Times of India on 29 March 1977, shows a crowded scene in which a common man — the familiar R. K. Laxman figure in a dhoti and shirt — is being lifted high on the shoulders of four political leaders. These four are Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, and Atal Behari Vajpayee. The common man is smiling and waving, clearly delighted. In the background, lying flat on the ground and looking stunned, is a figure labelled “Congress” — a defeated, crumpled shape. The cartoon’s caption reads: “A cartoonist’s reading of who won and what was defeated in the 1977 election.” …
The cartoon appeared after the 1980 election results, which saw Indira Gandhi and the Congress party return to power with a massive majority (353 seats). The cartoonist R. K. Laxman uses a simple but powerful visual metaphor to comment on the Janata Party's brief and troubled rule.
The cartoon shows a common man — the familiar bespectacled, dhoti-clad figure from Laxman's cartoons — standing on a weighing scale. On one side of the scale, a large, heavy stone labelled "Emergency" is placed. On the other side, the common man is trying to balance it with a much smaller, lighter object labelled "Janata Government." The scale is tipped heavily towards the Emergency side, with the common man struggling to lift the Janata Government side. …
The cartoon, drawn by R. K. Laxman and published in The Times of India after the 1980 election results, shows a common man — the familiar bespectacled figure in a dhoti — standing on a weighing scale. On one side of the scale, a large pile of ballot papers labelled "1977" is heaped, representing the Janata Party's massive victory in north India that year. On the other side, an even larger pile of ballot papers labelled "1980" is placed, representing the Congress party's sweeping comeback in the same region. The common man is shown tipping the scale heavily toward the 1980 pile, indicating that the 1977 mandate was decisively overturned.
The cartoon makes a pointed visual argument: the "mandate" or "verdict" of 1977 was not a stable, enduring judgment of the electorate. Instead, it was quickly reversed in 1980, especially in the very same northern states where the Janata Party had swept the polls just three years earlier. The common man, as the symbol of the ordinary voter, is shown actively shifting his weight — his preference — from one election to the next. This underscores the lesson that the 1977 election was not a permanent realignment but a temporary, negative verdict against the Emergency. Once the Janata government proved unstable and quarrelsome, voters punished it just as decisively. …
The cartoon by Atanu Roy, published in India Today after the 1980 election results, shows a man lying in a hospital bed, covered with a blanket and looking weak or exhausted. Beside the bed stands a doctor or nurse holding a large syringe. The patient is labelled “Democracy,” and the syringe is labelled “Emergency.” The caption reads: “I got it! Emergency was like a vaccination against dictatorship. It was painful and caused fever, but strengthened the resistance of our democracy.”
The cartoon uses the metaphor of a medical vaccination to explain the long-term effect of the Emergency (1975–77) on Indian democracy. Just as a vaccine introduces a weakened form of a disease to build immunity, the Emergency — though painful and anti-democratic — is portrayed as having ultimately strengthened the democratic system. The “fever” refers to the suffering and fear during those 18 months, while the “resistance” refers to the public’s renewed commitment to democratic norms after 1977. …
The cartoon, published after the 1980 Lok Sabha election results, shows a man — the common citizen — sitting up in a hospital bed, looking healthy and relieved. A doctor stands beside him, holding a syringe. The caption reads: “I got it! Emergency was like a vaccination against dictatorship. It was painful and caused fever, but strengthened the resistance of our democracy.”
The scene is a hospital ward. The patient (the common man) has clearly recovered from an illness. The doctor represents the political system or perhaps the collective wisdom of the electorate. The syringe is the “vaccination” — the Emergency of 1975–77. The point is that the Emergency was a painful, fever-inducing experience for Indian democracy, but it ultimately made the body politic stronger and more resistant to future authoritarian threats.
What the cartoon teaches is that the 1977 election was a decisive rejection of authoritarian rule. Voters punished the Congress party for suspending democratic freedoms. But the lesson went deeper: the Janata Party government that followed (1977–79) proved unstable and quarrelsome, and was itself voted out in 1980. So the 1980 election showed that voters would also punish a government that was seen as incompetent and fractious. The “vaccination” had worked — democracy had developed antibodies against both dictatorship and chaos. …
The cartoon, published after the 1980 Lok Sabha election results, shows a common man — the familiar R. K. Laxman character — standing in a field. He is holding a large syringe labelled "Emergency." The needle of the syringe is pointed at his own arm, as if he has just given himself an injection.
The caption reads: "I got it! Emergency was like a vaccination against dictatorship. It was painful and caused fever, but strengthened the resistance of our democracy."
The cartoon makes a single, sharp point: the Emergency of 1975–77, though harsh and undemocratic, ultimately inoculated Indian democracy against future authoritarian threats. The "fever" refers to the suffering and political turmoil of those 18 months — the arrests, censorship, forced sterilisations, and the suspension of civil liberties. The "resistance" that followed is the lesson voters learned: any government that acts anti-democratically will be punished at the polls. That lesson was first demonstrated in the 1977 elections, when the Congress was routed in north India, and it was reinforced in 1980 when the quarrelsome Janata government was itself voted out. …