The Crisis of Democratic Order Test - 3

This cartoon appeared a 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.

Besides this, during an Emergency, elections can be postponed by one year. 

The issue of reservations for ‘other backward classes’ became very controversial in Bihar and following this, the Mandal Commission was appointed by the Janata Party government at the centre.

Magazines like the Seminar and the Mainstream chose to close down rather than submit to censorship. Many journalists were arrested for writing against the Emergency.

The Janata Party government that came to power after the 1977 elections was far from cohesive. 

In 1967, the Naxalite movement was started by the poor peasants against the government’s socio-economic policies and it targeted rich landowners by snatching land from them and passing them to the poor and the landless. The Naxalites use violent methods to achieve their goals. Presently, Naxalites have emerged as a major internal challenge for the country and are widespread in regions like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, particularly targeting state machinery.

Kannada writer Shivarama Karanth, awarded with Padma Bhushan, and Hindi writer Fanishwarnath Renu, awarded with Padma Shri, returned their awards in protest against the suspension of democracy.

It was led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP. The movement later turned against Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government in the central government.

But in 1973, the government set aside the seniority of three judges and appointed Justice A. N. Ray as the Chief Justice of India. 

Jayaprakash Narayan became the popular symbol of the restoration of democracy.