From Preamble to Power: How the Emergency Redrafted India’s Rulebook

As India marks the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, a heated national controversy has arisen over the legacy and legitimacy of the sweeping constitutional reforms of the 1975-77 era—most notably, the claim that "50% of the Constitution changed after Emergency was imposed." While this figure is contested, no one disputes that the Emergency radically reshaped India's constitutional order, and many of its provisions continue to shape governance today.

 

Key Highlights:

 

Preamble: Altered: The 42nd Constitutional Amendment of 1976 added the words "socialist" and "secular" to the Preamble controversially. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar recently called this alteration a "festering wound" and "sacrilege" and asserted that it was pushed through when democracy was put on the backburner and dissent was stifled.

 

Concentration of Power: The 42nd Amendment enormously augmented the central government's authority by allowing Parliament to override state law and lengthening the terms of the Lok Sabha and state legislatures to six years from five.

 

Restriction of Judicial Review: The Amendments excluded courts from reviewing Emergency declarations and specific legislation, undermining judicial checks on executive authority.

 

Suspension of Rights: Basic rights like freedom of expression and legal redress were suspended. Draconian laws like MISA were used to arrest thousands of people, including opposition leaders, incommunicado.

 

Directive Principles Enforced over Fundamental Rights: The 42nd Amendment prioritized Directive Principles over Fundamental Rights, and it is now harder for courts to strike down law that violates rights like equality and free speech.

 

Post-Emergency Reforms: The 44th Amendment of the Janata regime (1978) undid most of the alterations introduced under the Emergency years—judicial review was reinstated, it became tougher to declare an Emergency, and it became impossible to suspend the right to life and liberty (Articles 20 and 21) even during emergency situations.
 

Current Controversy: While some of the Emergency-era reforms, such as the new Preamble words, stand, some have been reversed. Recent demands of RSS and politicians to remove "socialist" and "secular" have once again brought the constitutional legacy of the Emergency into the limelight.

 

Source: Moneycontrol, India Today, Drishti IAS, The Print, Drishti Judiciary, Indian Express, PIB, Wikipedia.