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India's Undeclared Emergency: Constitutionalism and the Politics of Resistance
In 1975, the Indira Gandhi government declared Emergency in India, unveiling an era of State excesses, human rights violations, the centralisation of power and the dismantling of democracy. Nearly half a century later, the phrase ‘undeclared emergency’ gathers currency as citizens and analysts struggle to define the nature of India’s present crisis.
In Undeclared Emergency, Arvind Narrain presents a devastatingly thorough examination of the nature of this emergency—a systematic attack on the rule of law that hits at the foundation of a democracy, its Constitution. This clear-eyed legal analysis of its implications also documents an ongoing history of constitutional subversion, one that predates the Narendra Modi-led NDA government—a lineage of curtailed freedoms, censorship, preventive detention laws and diluted executive accountability.
Is history repeating itself then? Not quite. This book is an account of an inaugural era in Indian history. Narrain shows that the Modi government, unlike the Congress government of 1975, draws on popular support and this raises the dangerous possibility that today’s authoritarian regime could become tomorrow’s totalitarian state.
A lament, the Undeclared Emergency is also a war cry. It charts an alternative inheritance of resistance, acts big and small from the Emergency of 1975, the current day and times long gone. Dissent, he says, is an Indian tradition.
The Second Coming is at hand, and Narrain reckons that we have a responsibility to determine what it will look like.
In Undeclared Emergency, Arvind Narrain presents a devastatingly thorough examination of the nature of this emergency—a systematic attack on the rule of law that hits at the foundation of a democracy, its Constitution. This clear-eyed legal analysis of its implications also documents an ongoing history of constitutional subversion, one that predates the Narendra Modi-led NDA government—a lineage of curtailed freedoms, censorship, preventive detention laws and diluted executive accountability.
Is history repeating itself then? Not quite. This book is an account of an inaugural era in Indian history. Narrain shows that the Modi government, unlike the Congress government of 1975, draws on popular support and this raises the dangerous possibility that today’s authoritarian regime could become tomorrow’s totalitarian state.
A lament, the Undeclared Emergency is also a war cry. It charts an alternative inheritance of resistance, acts big and small from the Emergency of 1975, the current day and times long gone. Dissent, he says, is an Indian tradition.
The Second Coming is at hand, and Narrain reckons that we have a responsibility to determine what it will look like.
- GenresIndiaPoliticsNonfiction
344 pages, Hardcover
Published November 3, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 28, 2022
Read this gem right after Aakar Patel's Price of the Modi Years, which was a cracker of a book about the extent of governance disaster the Modi premiership has been defined by. This one's about India's journey from an authoritarian state to a totalitarian one (yes they are different); and its journey into being a prerogative one now from a (relatively) normative one earlier.
Important read not just for to know about the despair that prevails but the hope that's needed.
Important read not just for to know about the despair that prevails but the hope that's needed.
May 9, 2022
This is like a book version of the Netflix "slow burn". Its plot unfolds gradually, systematically but thoroughly. The author, a legal scholar, demonstrates how the Indian government at the Centre is operating like the linchpin of a totalitarian machine. But for a good part of the book you may be forgiven for wondering why you're reading legal minutiae from the 1970's (note: I'm not a lawyer)! Then the dots start connecting and the implications of legal loopholes and judicial shortcomings emerge. By the time it signs off with the famous "First they came for the socialists ... ", you'd have traversed a range of emotions - from befuddlement and curiosity through to shock and despair.
At its core it highlights the similarities and differences between the Emergency and today's India. Not only are we seeing the same governmental patterns in play today, we've gone beyond that in observing popular support for the government's obviously unconstitutional steps: the abrogation of Article 370, laws related to "love jihad", cow slaughter and so on. The author stays remarkably restrained as he deals with these and other emotive topics. Being a legal scholar, he lets the text of such laws and their case histories speak for themselves. The one striking commonality between the two eras are the illegal arrests and preventive detentions. These phenomena rip the heart out of "due process" and understandably drive constitutional lawyers to despair. Therefore, this book could become the go-to source to learn exactly how the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and the NIA (National Investigative Agency) epitomize India's undeclared Emergency.
The book also taught me a good deal about the political phenomenon of totalitarianism and how it differs from authoritarianism. The latter relies on someone grabbing hold of the reins of power and enforcing a sullen obedience from the population (think Putin today). Totalitarianism, on the other hand, expects the eager participation of the masses in bizarre and masochistic political actions. Thus, it needs some kind of deranged ideology to go along even as those in power look to entrench themselves. They can choose from mythical histories, past oppressions, misplaced fears, victimhood complexes - or any combination of these that fits the current population. The traditional big checks on executive power (the judiciary and the media) need to be cowered into submission. Grand or macabre displays of mob mentality are used to gradually dull individual thinking or squeeze any hope of action out of it. As the author explains via Hannah Arendt, the mob becomes a "direct agent" of nationalism.
The above is just one of many exquisite references to Arendt (the famous political philosopher of post war Germany). The other person who gets top billing is Juan Linz, a Spanish political scientist and author of "Totalitarianism and Authoritarian Regimes". Both are cited many times, often to illuminate subtle points, and not once gratuitously. Arendt's "Origins of Totalitarianism" has been on my radar for a while and has now transformed into a must read.
The deranged idea of Hindutva and its mobs and their calls for genocide, the utter paralysis of the Supreme Court, crony capitalism and compromised corporate media, the hounding by the NIA and endless detentions using UAPA (most notably of the Bhima Koregaon-16) are visible realities for Indians today. Still, one achieves conceptual closure after seeing a legal scholar tie these together cogently with the help of legal and political frameworks, and drawing connections to other places and times in history. Cobwebs clear up, cracks gets filled and the mind opens itself up, even if hesitantly, to the possibility of light at the end of this tunnel and what to do about it.
The book takes on this last question in a chapter titled "What is to be done?". Unfortunately I found this less than fulfilling (hence my emotional journey ending at despair), and certainly so when compared to the rest of the book (an admittedly high bar). Even here, a terrifically persuasive case is made for unrelenting legal activism. Drawing from examples in Palestine, apartheid South Africa and the USA, the author shows that all the individual bits of legal data gathered during the years of gloom can greatly mobilize public sentiment when a ray of hope appears in future. No one knew when apartheid would end or when the Berlin Wall would fall but as soon as momentum gathered, the paper trails of these "regimes of evil" helped in hastening them to oblivion.
Why this will be so is explained through political scientist Ernst Fraenkel and his "The Dual State" analysis of Nazi Germany: a capitalist, pro-corporate totalitarian regime needs the make-believe of rule of law in order for businesses to run. Hence the "normative" State will keep up this charade, while the "prerogative" State of the all-powerful cultish leader and brutish mobs continue running on a parallel track. This hypocrisy is bound to get exposed.
To list some of the other suggestions in this chapter: dissent within the bureaucratic setup, espouse constitutional values and an inclusive nationalism, address inequalities, create networks of solidarity and so on. An interesting one is the technique of relying on native/Indian traditions of dissent and humanism. While this was tried with some degree of success during India's freedom struggle, it has lost its appeal over subsequent generations. The author invokes Basavanna, Kabir and Tagore as possible sources of inspiration. Taken as a whole, this list feels like the full-spectrum "war of position" espoused by political theorist Gramsci and ascribed as such to the RSS and its affiliate organizations at multiple places in this book itself!
There’s a small bit by Arendt that offers a breakthrough here as well: every human being needs to be programmed/conditioned into the totalitarian cult of the day. But the wonderful diversity and contingencies of humans is not something totalitarianism can manage forever. Thus, every birth offers a new beginning!
Curiously, both in his analysis of the Emergency and of today, the author spends very little time commenting on how the rest of the political players are responding, how State governments are behaving (or whether they're themselves becoming totalitarian). Legal and bureaucratic activism are not open to the common man, and hence a more thorough analysis of the political response would have been welcome. But that's just my minor quibble about this otherwise breathtaking book.
At its core it highlights the similarities and differences between the Emergency and today's India. Not only are we seeing the same governmental patterns in play today, we've gone beyond that in observing popular support for the government's obviously unconstitutional steps: the abrogation of Article 370, laws related to "love jihad", cow slaughter and so on. The author stays remarkably restrained as he deals with these and other emotive topics. Being a legal scholar, he lets the text of such laws and their case histories speak for themselves. The one striking commonality between the two eras are the illegal arrests and preventive detentions. These phenomena rip the heart out of "due process" and understandably drive constitutional lawyers to despair. Therefore, this book could become the go-to source to learn exactly how the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and the NIA (National Investigative Agency) epitomize India's undeclared Emergency.
The book also taught me a good deal about the political phenomenon of totalitarianism and how it differs from authoritarianism. The latter relies on someone grabbing hold of the reins of power and enforcing a sullen obedience from the population (think Putin today). Totalitarianism, on the other hand, expects the eager participation of the masses in bizarre and masochistic political actions. Thus, it needs some kind of deranged ideology to go along even as those in power look to entrench themselves. They can choose from mythical histories, past oppressions, misplaced fears, victimhood complexes - or any combination of these that fits the current population. The traditional big checks on executive power (the judiciary and the media) need to be cowered into submission. Grand or macabre displays of mob mentality are used to gradually dull individual thinking or squeeze any hope of action out of it. As the author explains via Hannah Arendt, the mob becomes a "direct agent" of nationalism.
The above is just one of many exquisite references to Arendt (the famous political philosopher of post war Germany). The other person who gets top billing is Juan Linz, a Spanish political scientist and author of "Totalitarianism and Authoritarian Regimes". Both are cited many times, often to illuminate subtle points, and not once gratuitously. Arendt's "Origins of Totalitarianism" has been on my radar for a while and has now transformed into a must read.
The deranged idea of Hindutva and its mobs and their calls for genocide, the utter paralysis of the Supreme Court, crony capitalism and compromised corporate media, the hounding by the NIA and endless detentions using UAPA (most notably of the Bhima Koregaon-16) are visible realities for Indians today. Still, one achieves conceptual closure after seeing a legal scholar tie these together cogently with the help of legal and political frameworks, and drawing connections to other places and times in history. Cobwebs clear up, cracks gets filled and the mind opens itself up, even if hesitantly, to the possibility of light at the end of this tunnel and what to do about it.
The book takes on this last question in a chapter titled "What is to be done?". Unfortunately I found this less than fulfilling (hence my emotional journey ending at despair), and certainly so when compared to the rest of the book (an admittedly high bar). Even here, a terrifically persuasive case is made for unrelenting legal activism. Drawing from examples in Palestine, apartheid South Africa and the USA, the author shows that all the individual bits of legal data gathered during the years of gloom can greatly mobilize public sentiment when a ray of hope appears in future. No one knew when apartheid would end or when the Berlin Wall would fall but as soon as momentum gathered, the paper trails of these "regimes of evil" helped in hastening them to oblivion.
Why this will be so is explained through political scientist Ernst Fraenkel and his "The Dual State" analysis of Nazi Germany: a capitalist, pro-corporate totalitarian regime needs the make-believe of rule of law in order for businesses to run. Hence the "normative" State will keep up this charade, while the "prerogative" State of the all-powerful cultish leader and brutish mobs continue running on a parallel track. This hypocrisy is bound to get exposed.
To list some of the other suggestions in this chapter: dissent within the bureaucratic setup, espouse constitutional values and an inclusive nationalism, address inequalities, create networks of solidarity and so on. An interesting one is the technique of relying on native/Indian traditions of dissent and humanism. While this was tried with some degree of success during India's freedom struggle, it has lost its appeal over subsequent generations. The author invokes Basavanna, Kabir and Tagore as possible sources of inspiration. Taken as a whole, this list feels like the full-spectrum "war of position" espoused by political theorist Gramsci and ascribed as such to the RSS and its affiliate organizations at multiple places in this book itself!
There’s a small bit by Arendt that offers a breakthrough here as well: every human being needs to be programmed/conditioned into the totalitarian cult of the day. But the wonderful diversity and contingencies of humans is not something totalitarianism can manage forever. Thus, every birth offers a new beginning!
Curiously, both in his analysis of the Emergency and of today, the author spends very little time commenting on how the rest of the political players are responding, how State governments are behaving (or whether they're themselves becoming totalitarian). Legal and bureaucratic activism are not open to the common man, and hence a more thorough analysis of the political response would have been welcome. But that's just my minor quibble about this otherwise breathtaking book.
May 20, 2025
Quite frankly, this book started off as a great constitutional law revision, taking the reader through landmark judgments and dissents. The author argues that India is heading towards becoming a totalitarian state that is founded on hindutva ideologies. The present government, despite its anti-dissent approach and persecution against religious minorities, is supported by the masses and as such, the book is a call for unity and action.
The author heavily quotes Hannah Arendt and her impression on Nazi Germany , to trace in similarities in bureaucratic action and mob complicity. The author talks about the 1975 national emergency and the threat it posed to civil liberty, to argue that India is presently in a state of undeclared emergency.
The author takes you through various instances of quelling public dissent, preventative detention, exclusionary legislation and judicial complacency, particularly in the last two BJP led NDA terms, to drive home his point. The book ends with a call for action, giving the reader a sense of hope.
The author heavily quotes Hannah Arendt and her impression on Nazi Germany , to trace in similarities in bureaucratic action and mob complicity. The author talks about the 1975 national emergency and the threat it posed to civil liberty, to argue that India is presently in a state of undeclared emergency.
The author takes you through various instances of quelling public dissent, preventative detention, exclusionary legislation and judicial complacency, particularly in the last two BJP led NDA terms, to drive home his point. The book ends with a call for action, giving the reader a sense of hope.
July 30, 2022
Great book, a difficult read.
Initially, the book is hard to follow as it contains a lot of legal jargon for a casual reader, but if one keeps at it, it becomes easier. Draws a lot of parallels between the emergency period and today. And goes on to explain how today's time is a step ahead in terms of weaponizing the legal framework available as a means to silence activists, intellectuals or anyone who poses a threat to the established narrative.
It really helps open one's eyes to the legal world of activism of one who isn't actively following the scholarly writings and reports or even finding it hard and confusing to understand and make sense of what's going on.
Initially, the book is hard to follow as it contains a lot of legal jargon for a casual reader, but if one keeps at it, it becomes easier. Draws a lot of parallels between the emergency period and today. And goes on to explain how today's time is a step ahead in terms of weaponizing the legal framework available as a means to silence activists, intellectuals or anyone who poses a threat to the established narrative.
It really helps open one's eyes to the legal world of activism of one who isn't actively following the scholarly writings and reports or even finding it hard and confusing to understand and make sense of what's going on.
May 12, 2022
This is a tough read both from the legalese and the topic. Not fully bought into the comparison of the two periods, guess time will tell.
May 2, 2023
Emergency and its many avatars
Recalling the dark days of the Emergency in 1975 and his role in the resistance to repressive times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat in June this year stressed the need to always remember how democracy was snatched away and a mass movement was launched to reclaim the right to life and personal liberty.
He also said that India today celebrated the Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav which not only encompasses the victory saga of freedom from hundreds of years of slavery, but also the journey of 75 years after independence.
"We move forward, learning from every important stage of history," he said.
The irony of his claims has been brought out sharply in 'India's undeclared emergency' by Arvind Narrain.
One of the main arguments made by the author is that while the present Modi government has many authoritarian features of the Indira Gandhi regime of the Emergency, it also has several new features that make it totalitarian in nature.
The difference between an authoritarian and a totalitarian regimes is that the former uses the agencies of the State such as the police, intelligence, CBI etc to enforce the laws, while the latter legitimises its repression through ideology and propaganda which have the people on its side. That's why the totalitarian regime has popular support, whereas an authoritarian rule is passively accepted, examples of which one can see in the present-day North Korea, China and Russia.
In the words of Christophe Jaffrelot an authoritarian rule depends on a deep state -- army, police, intelligence and investigating agencies like CBI, while a totalitarian regime relies on a deeper state which depends on social organisations like the RSS and other Hindu groups and the mobs to shape the minds of the people and give legitimacy to the state's actions.
The book highlights how the Modi government has not only used the repressive laws and institutions of the Congress era such as the Unlawful Practices (Prevention) Act and agencies such the National Investigation Agency more ruthlessly, but has also been systematically imposing its Hindutva agenda using the legislative route by rushing through laws, which prima facie give it legitimacy. The courts too have either endorsed its actions like in the case of Babri mosque demolition or by delaying case hearings like in the abrogation of Article 370.
The use of the draconian UAPA to make arrests in a wide range of cases - from CAA protests to agitations in Kashmir to alleged terrorist cases - has raised concerns. The number of UAPA cases rose sharply during Modi's rule after 2104 but the convictions are pretty low.
One of the most egregious uses of the Act and deployment of NIA has been against activists, academics and artists in the Bhima Koregaon case. Not only have the cases dragged on since 2018, there has been no bail for the accused languishing in jail for the past four years.
One of the accused died in custody and several others are suffering from ailments due to old age and want of medical treatment.
The subtitle of the book is Constitutionalism and Politics of Resistance. The author raises a number of constitutional issues such as the government continuing to use laws and provisions that were contested in Supreme Court during the Emergency. The court had upheld the provisions on detentions, but later a different bench overturned them.
Of all the tall claims of the Modi government such as fast tracking of India's economic growth and making India a vishwaguru etc, it is the claim about restoring democracy that is the most hollow and a bluff that has not been called. This book does that.
Recalling the dark days of the Emergency in 1975 and his role in the resistance to repressive times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat in June this year stressed the need to always remember how democracy was snatched away and a mass movement was launched to reclaim the right to life and personal liberty.
He also said that India today celebrated the Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav which not only encompasses the victory saga of freedom from hundreds of years of slavery, but also the journey of 75 years after independence.
"We move forward, learning from every important stage of history," he said.
The irony of his claims has been brought out sharply in 'India's undeclared emergency' by Arvind Narrain.
One of the main arguments made by the author is that while the present Modi government has many authoritarian features of the Indira Gandhi regime of the Emergency, it also has several new features that make it totalitarian in nature.
The difference between an authoritarian and a totalitarian regimes is that the former uses the agencies of the State such as the police, intelligence, CBI etc to enforce the laws, while the latter legitimises its repression through ideology and propaganda which have the people on its side. That's why the totalitarian regime has popular support, whereas an authoritarian rule is passively accepted, examples of which one can see in the present-day North Korea, China and Russia.
In the words of Christophe Jaffrelot an authoritarian rule depends on a deep state -- army, police, intelligence and investigating agencies like CBI, while a totalitarian regime relies on a deeper state which depends on social organisations like the RSS and other Hindu groups and the mobs to shape the minds of the people and give legitimacy to the state's actions.
The book highlights how the Modi government has not only used the repressive laws and institutions of the Congress era such as the Unlawful Practices (Prevention) Act and agencies such the National Investigation Agency more ruthlessly, but has also been systematically imposing its Hindutva agenda using the legislative route by rushing through laws, which prima facie give it legitimacy. The courts too have either endorsed its actions like in the case of Babri mosque demolition or by delaying case hearings like in the abrogation of Article 370.
The use of the draconian UAPA to make arrests in a wide range of cases - from CAA protests to agitations in Kashmir to alleged terrorist cases - has raised concerns. The number of UAPA cases rose sharply during Modi's rule after 2104 but the convictions are pretty low.
One of the most egregious uses of the Act and deployment of NIA has been against activists, academics and artists in the Bhima Koregaon case. Not only have the cases dragged on since 2018, there has been no bail for the accused languishing in jail for the past four years.
One of the accused died in custody and several others are suffering from ailments due to old age and want of medical treatment.
The subtitle of the book is Constitutionalism and Politics of Resistance. The author raises a number of constitutional issues such as the government continuing to use laws and provisions that were contested in Supreme Court during the Emergency. The court had upheld the provisions on detentions, but later a different bench overturned them.
Of all the tall claims of the Modi government such as fast tracking of India's economic growth and making India a vishwaguru etc, it is the claim about restoring democracy that is the most hollow and a bluff that has not been called. This book does that.
January 5, 2026
Quite frankly, this book started off as a great constitutional law revision, taking the reader through landmark judgments and dissents. The author argues that India is heading towards becoming a totalitarian state that is founded on hindutva ideologies. The present government, despite its anti-dissent approach and persecution against religious minorities, is supported by the masses and as such, the book is a call for unity and action.
The author heavily quotes Hannah Arendt and her impression on Nazi Germany , to trace in similarities in bureaucratic action and mob complicity. The author talks about the 1975 national emergency and the threat it posed to civil liberty, to argue that India is presently in a state of undeclared emergency.
The author takes you through various instances of quelling public dissent, preventative detention, exclusionary legislation and judicial complacency, particularly in the last two BJP led NDA terms, to drive home his point. The book ends with a call for action, giving the reader a sense of hope.
The author heavily quotes Hannah Arendt and her impression on Nazi Germany , to trace in similarities in bureaucratic action and mob complicity. The author talks about the 1975 national emergency and the threat it posed to civil liberty, to argue that India is presently in a state of undeclared emergency.
The author takes you through various instances of quelling public dissent, preventative detention, exclusionary legislation and judicial complacency, particularly in the last two BJP led NDA terms, to drive home his point. The book ends with a call for action, giving the reader a sense of hope.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews