Aug 29, 2025
Antara Haldar
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 1975 decision to declare an emergency and suspend civil liberties remains one of the most insidious episodes in the country's modern history. The playbook that she wrote has become all too familiar in our own era of democratically elected strongmen.
NEW DELHI – The 78th anniversary of India’s independence this month offers an opportunity to recall one of the most insidious moments in the country’s post-independence history: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 1975 decision to declare an emergency and suspend civil liberties. A new book by political scientist Srinath Raghavan, Indira Gandhi and the Years That Transformed India, not only revisits that fateful move, but also traces its lasting impact half a century later.
