Publisher |
HarperCollins India |
Publication Year |
2022 |
ISBN-13 |
9789394407985 |
ISBN-10 |
9394407987 |
Binding |
Paperback |
Number of Pages |
536 Pages |
Language |
(English) |
Dimensions (Cms) |
25.4 x 20.3 x 4.7 |
Weight (grms) |
440 |
The best and most comprehensive book on the Emergency.' - Business Standard
In June 1975 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency, resulting in a 21-month suspension of democracy across India. Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil explore this black page in India's history, a constitutional dictatorship of unequal impact, with South India largely spared thanks to the resilience of Indian federalism.
This book focuses on Mrs Gandhi and her son, Sanjay, who was largely responsible for the mass sterilization programmes and deportation of urban slum-dwellers. However, it equally exposes the facilitation of authoritarian rule by Congressmen, Communists, trade unions, businessmen and the urban middle class, as well as the complacency of the judiciary and media. Those who resisted the Emergency, in the media or on the streets, were few in number.
While a tiny minority of citizens fought for democracy during the Emergency, in large numbers the people bowed to the strong leader in power, even worshipped her. Equally importantly, Hindu nationalists were endowed with a new legitimacy. Yet, the Emergency was neither a parenthesis, nor so much a turning point: but a concentrate of a style of rule that is very much alive today
Christophe Jaffrelot
Laurence Louër is a researcher at Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) in Paris. She is an Arabist and specializes in Middle-Eastern studies.
Christophe Jaffrelot is a senior research fellow at CERI and the author of the critically acclaimed The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience as well as the editor of Pakistan at the Crossroads: Domestic Dynamics and External Pressures.
Christophe Jaffrelot
HarperCollins India