The untold economic chaos that sparked Indira Gandhi’s Emergency

Jun 23, 2025 | 19:10 IST

Indira Gandhi with protesting students in JNU (Photo: TOI)

On the Emergency’s anniversary, this extract from Sugata Srinivasaraju’s The Conscience Network reveals how student fury, economic collapse and JP’s call for ‘total revolution’ collided to push Indira Gandhi into authoritarianism, and how global voices helped break the silence

Why Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency has been a matter of intense debate and speculation even after five decades. Historians, biographers and commentators have looked at various aspects ranging from the usual political exigencies, to larger economic conditions and the peculiar psychological state of the principal protagonists.

TOI

TOI

The untold economic chaos that sparked Indira Gandhi’s Emergency

On the Emergency’s anniversary, this extract from Sugata Srinivasaraju’s The Conscience Network reveals how student fury, economic collapse and JP’s call for ‘total revolution’ collided to push Indira Gandhi into authoritarianism, and how global voices helped break the silence

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TOI

The untold economic chaos that sparked Indira Gandhi’s Emergency

On the Emergency’s anniversary, this extract from Sugata Srinivasaraju’s The Conscience Network reveals how student fury, economic collapse and JP’s call for ‘total revolution’ collided to push Indira Gandhi into authoritarianism, and how global voices helped break the silence

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