Politics in India since Independence The response of the government was to declare a state of emergency. On June , the government declared that there was a threat of internal disturbances and therefore, it invoked Article of the Constitution. Under the provision of this article the government could declare a state of emergency on grounds of external threat or a threat of internal disturbances. The government decided that a grave crisis had arisen which made the proclamation of a state of emergency necessary.
Technically speaking this was within the powers of the government, for our Constitution provides for some special powers to the government once an emergency is declared. Once an emergency is proclaimed, the federal distribution of powers remains practically suspended and all the powers are concentrated in the hands of the union government. Secondly, the government also gets the power to curtail or restrict all or any of the Fundamental Rights during the emergency. From the wording of the provisions of the Constitution, it is clear that an Emergency is seen as an This cartoon appeared few days before the declaration of Emergency and captures the sense of impending political crisis.
The man behind the chair is D. K. Barooah, the Congress President. Credit: R.
K. Laxman in The Times of India, June