---
title: India's Emergency:'India is Indira' and the censored press
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/
description: for 21 months India's government filtered the news through pre-censorship, blamed unrest on a "deep and widespread conspiracy", heard its party president…
section: Case studies
---

![Illustration: a dense, generic Cold War intelligence analyst's evidence wall of press photography, redacted reports and aerial reconnaissance imagery.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-evidence-wall.jpg)

[Case studies](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/)

# India's Emergency:'India is Indira' and the censored press

At a glance

For 21 months India's government filtered the news through pre-censorship, blamed unrest on a "deep and widespread conspiracy", heard its party president fuse the prime minister with the nation…

- **When:** June 25, 1975
- **Actor:** Government of India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi…
- **Target:** Indian newspaper readers, radio listeners and voters…
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Confidence:** **high** Multiple independent open sources, low disagreement about the facts
- **Techniques:** [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Euphemism / doublespeak](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/euphemism/) [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

Full details

- **Actor:** Government of India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Indian National Congress); later, networks linked to a Congress IT cell and to the IT firm Silver Touch, and the BJP-led government of 2024
- **Target:** Indian newspaper readers, radio listeners and voters; the press itself; the opposition movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan

On this page

- [What happened](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#what-happened)
- [How it works](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#how-it-works)
- [Then and now](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#then-and-now)
- [Positions on the record](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#positions-on-the-record)
- [Same-method test](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#same-method-test)
- [How to spot it](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#how-to-spot-it)
- [Images](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#images)
- [Sources](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-emergency-1975/#sources)

On this page

> **Content note.** This case describes mass detention without trial and a sterilisation drive in which the official inquiry recorded deaths and coercion. Figures are given as the sources state them.

**In one line:** for 21 months India's government filtered the news through pre-censorship, blamed unrest on a "deep and widespread conspiracy", heard its party president fuse the prime minister with the nation, and put Vinoba Bhave's phrase on its postmarks; opponents answered with blank editorials, underground bulletins and the 1977 vote, and both main parties now use "Emergency" as a label against each other.

![Diagram: unrest and a court ruling lead to the proclamation; the government controls the channel through a power cut, pre-censorship and detention; it fills the channel with conspiracy, identity and endorsement messages; the 1977 election and Shah Commission reverse it; branches show opposition messaging, the 2019 Facebook takedowns and the 2024-25 anniversary labels](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/india-emergency-1975-diagram.svg)

## What happened

- **12 June 1975.** The Allahabad High Court sets aside Indira Gandhi's 1971 election to Parliament on an election petition brought by her opponent Raj Narain (Guha 2007).
- **25 June 1975.** At Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, Jayaprakash Narayan ("JP") recites Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's line *"Singhasan khali karo ki janata aati hai"* ("Vacate the throne, for the people are coming") and urges police and soldiers not to obey "illegal orders".
- **Night of 25-26 June.** President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed proclaims an emergency under Article 352, citing a threat to India's security from "internal disturbance". Electricity to the newspaper presses on Delhi's Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg is cut, so most Delhi readers get no paper on 26 June. The Shah Commission later found the power cut was deliberate. JP, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani are among those arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).
- **26 June, All India Radio.** Indira Gandhi tells listeners: "The President has proclaimed Emergency. There is nothing to panic about." She speaks of "the deep and widespread conspiracy" "brewing" since she began "progressive measures" for "the common man and woman", citing agitations, violence and the killing of her minister L.N. Mishra.
- **From 26 June.** Pre-censorship: editors must clear news, editorials and photographs with the censor. The Shah Commission recorded that newspapers were sorted as "friendly", "neutral" or "hostile".
- **28 June.** The *Indian Express* prints a blank editorial space; *The Statesman* follows with blank columns.
- **1 July 1975.** The government announces the Twenty Point Programme (land reform, prices, action against tax evaders and smugglers). Sanjay Gandhi, the prime minister's son, adds a five-point programme: literacy, family planning, tree planting, ending casteism and abolishing dowry. The two were later merged into a combined twenty-five point programme.
- **The slogans.** Congress president D.K. Barooah is credited with "India is Indira and Indira is India" (Guha 2007; sources differ on whether he first said it in 1974 or during the Emergency). The Gandhian leader Vinoba Bhave calls the period *anushasan parva*, an "era of discipline". Post offices stamp letters with hand-struck slogan postmarks reading *"Anushasan parva hain – Vinoba Bhave"* (in Hindi).
- **"Foreign hand."** Indira Gandhi repeatedly says foreign forces are trying to destabilise India. The historian Paul McGarr, drawing on British and American intelligence archives, concludes that she overstated the "foreign hand" but that some of her fears about the CIA had a basis (McGarr 2024).
- **1975-1977, the record the Shah Commission compiled.** 110,806 people detained without trial, 34,988 of them under MISA and the rest under the Defence of India Rules. Over 1.07 crore (10.7 million) sterilisations against a target of 67.4 lakh (6.74 million), figures from the commission that India's Minister of State for Home Affairs gave Parliament in August 2025. The Hindu, summarising the commission, reports 1,774 deaths linked to the procedures and 548 complaints of unmarried people being sterilised.
- **Kissa Kursi Ka.** The prints and master print of Amrit Nahata's satirical film are taken from the Censor Board and burned at the Maruti factory in Gurgaon. The Shah Commission held Sanjay Gandhi and Information and Broadcasting Minister V.C. Shukla responsible. A Delhi court convicted both on 27 February 1979; the verdict was later overturned.
- **Underground.** The Lok Sangharsh Samiti, a joint forum of Emergency opponents with Nanaji Deshmukh as secretary, organises resistance. The socialist George Fernandes goes underground and is arrested in 1976 and tried in the Baroda dynamite case. RSS-aligned accounts describe cyclostyled bulletins passed hand to hand.
- **January-March 1977.** Elections are called. The Janata Party campaigns on "democracy versus dictatorship". It wins 298 seats to Congress's 154, and the Emergency is revoked on 21 March 1977.
- **After.** As the new Information and Broadcasting Minister, Advani tells journalists, in a line quoted in several wordings, that they had been asked only to bend but had crawled. The Shah Commission, appointed on 28 May 1977, reports on 11 March, 26 April and 6 August 1978.

![Indira Gandhi, filed in the Anefo series "Elections in India", 21 March 1977](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/india-emergency-1975-indira-gandhi-1977.jpg)

*Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Congress). Anefo copy of a press print, filed on 21 March 1977 in its series "Elections in India"; photographer unknown. Nationaal Archief, CC0. The day the photo was taken is not recorded.*

![Morarji Desai speaking at a public meeting, filed in the Anefo series "Elections in India", 21 March 1977](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/india-emergency-1975-morarji-desai-1977.jpg)

*Opposition leader Morarji Desai (Janata Party) at a microphone. Anefo copy of a press print from the same series and date; photographer unknown. Nationaal Archief, CC0. Desai, jailed in June 1975, became prime minister on 24 March 1977.*

## How it works

- [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/): "India is Indira and Indira is India" makes the leader and the country one thing, so opposing her reads as opposing India. The line came from the ruling party's own president.
- [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/): the broadcast places strikes, agitation and violence on one hidden "conspiracy" of opponents, later widened to the "foreign hand". McGarr's archival work shows real CIA activity in the region, and the same work finds the claim stretched past what the evidence showed.
- [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/): pre-censorship decided what could be printed, and the power cut meant that on the first morning almost nothing was printed in Delhi. The Twenty Point Programme reached the public through the same filtered channel; the detention and sterilisation totals were compiled only after the Emergency ended, by the Shah Commission. The "friendly/neutral/hostile" sorting shows the filter was applied deliberately.
- [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/): Vinoba Bhave's moral standing as a follower of Mahatma Gandhi was stamped onto the nation's mail as *"Anushasan parva hain – Vinoba Bhave"*. The vouch travelled without his explanation of what he meant.
- [Euphemism / doublespeak](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/euphemism/): "era of discipline" and "internal disturbance" stand in for suspended civil liberties, detention without trial and press control.
- [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/): see *Then and now*. In 2019 Facebook removed a network linked to a Congress IT cell, one linked to a firm running pro-BJP pages, and a Pakistani military network, for posing as independent pages.
- [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/): see *Then and now*. Fifty years on, the BJP and Congress each attach the stigma of "Emergency" to the other. They use it differently: the BJP points to the documented 1975-77 record of the party that governed then; Congress uses the word as an analogy for the present government, a charge about today rather than a record.

## Then and now

**2019: networks linked to both main parties, removed the same day.** On 1 April 2019, shortly before voting began in the general election, Facebook announced three coordinated-inauthentic-behaviour takedowns. It said it acted on behaviour, "not the content they posted": in each case people "used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves".

- **Congress-linked:** 687 Pages and accounts (138 Pages, 549 accounts) linked to "individuals associated with an INC IT Cell". About 206,000 accounts followed the Pages; about $39,000 was spent on ads between August 2014 and March 2019. They posted local news, election content, support for Congress and criticism of opponents including the BJP.
- **BJP-aligned:** 15 Pages, groups and accounts linked to individuals associated with the IT firm Silver Touch. They posted about the government, the BJP and alleged misconduct of opponents including Congress. The best-known was *The India Eye*. Indian press reports of Facebook's figures give the network about 2.6 million followers and about $70,000 in ad spending.
- **Pakistan:** 103 Pages, groups and accounts on Facebook and Instagram linked to employees of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing.

The difference in scale runs both ways. By count, most removed items were Congress-linked; by audience, the Silver Touch network was more than ten times larger, and Quartz reported that the pro-BJP side took the bigger hit. ThePrint reported that around 200 pro-BJP pages were removed in the same purge, many of them, its sources said, for spam. The takedowns are set out in full in [Facebook's April 2019 takedowns in India: a Congress IT cell, a BJP-linked IT firm and a Pakistani military network](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/india-2019-facebook-takedowns/).

**2024-2025: the anniversary as a label.** On 12 July 2024 the BJP-led government announced, by a gazette notification dated 11 July, that 25 June would be observed as *Samvidhan Hatya Diwas* ("Constitution Murder Day"), citing the "gross abuse of power" of the Emergency, and the Ministry of Culture ran events from 25 June 2024 to 25 June 2026. Congress's communications chief Jairam Ramesh called it "yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy" and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten long years"; the next day BJP leaders criticised opposition leaders for "defending" the Emergency (All India Radio News, 13 July 2024). On 26 July 2024 the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition challenging the designation. In June 2025 Ramesh spoke of "an undeclared emergency for past 11 years". Each side uses "Emergency" to transfer 1975's stigma onto the other. This archive makes no finding on either party's present-day record.

The differences are these. In 1975-77 the state itself censored the press, detained over 110,000 people and announced it all on the state broadcaster, All India Radio. The 2019 networks were covert pages removed by a private platform during an election both parties contested. The 2024-25 labels are open political speech on both sides.

## Positions on the record

- **The government in 1975:** the Emergency answered a conspiracy that used agitation and violence to stop elected governments working, and it made room for the Twenty Point Programme's economic and social measures.
- **Its opponents:** the Emergency was a move to keep one leader in power after a court ruling against her; the Janata campaign called 1977 a choice between democracy and dictatorship.
- **What is documented:** the proclamation, broadcast, pre-censorship and power cut; the Shah Commission's detention, sterilisation and *Kissa Kursi Ka* findings; the blank editorials; the 1977 result; Facebook's 2019 attributions; both parties' 2024-25 statements.
- **What is not shown / disputed:** Vinoba Bhave's meaning. Accounts sympathetic to Bhave say he meant discipline for rulers as well as the ruled, and critics labelled him a "government saint"; this page shows only that the state used his phrase. The size of any foreign role in 1974-75 unrest remains unproven. Sterilisation death counts differ slightly between summaries (1,774 and 1,778 appear). Facebook attributed the 2019 networks to individuals associated with a Congress IT cell and with Silver Touch; it did not say either party's leadership directed them. The contents of the underground bulletins are not reviewed here. The 1977 Janata framing is recorded but not tagged: it named a documented condition (suspended liberties, postponed elections) rather than standing in for one.

## Same-method test

A U.S. president who told a late-night national audience of a threat that the record later did not support, and used it to win broad war powers, would be scored the same way; the gallery's [President Johnson's Gulf of Tonkin 'Midnight Address'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gulf-of-tonkin-address-1964/) is that case, though the U.S. Congress voted those powers and the courts and press kept working. Covert party-aligned page networks are tagged [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/) here whether they are Congress-linked, BJP-aligned, Pakistani military or, as in ['Russian Ads on Facebook' (House Intelligence Committee exhibit)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ira-facebook-ads-hpsci-2018/), run from St Petersburg at American voters.

## How to spot it

- When a leader and a nation are spoken of as one, ask what criticism of the leader is now allowed to be called.
- Under pre-censorship, the absence of bad news is evidence about the censor, not about the news. Look for blank columns, exile papers and later inquiries.
- For party-aligned pages, check the page transparency panel (creation date, admin countries, name changes) and platform takedown reports before sharing.

## Images

| Image | Source | Licence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mechanism diagram (above) | Drawn for FRAME from this page's sourced facts (`make_diagrams.py`) | CC BY 4.0, FRAME |
| Indira Gandhi, Anefo series "Verkiezingen in India" (filed 21 March 1977) | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Premier_Indira_Gandhi_(Congrespartij),_Bestanddeelnr_929-0811.jpg), Nationaal Archief, Fotocollectie Anefo 929-0811 | CC0 (Nationaal Archief) |
| Morarji Desai, same series (filed 21 March 1977) | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oppositieleider_Morarji_Desai_(Janata_Partij),_Bestanddeelnr_929-0810.jpg), Nationaal Archief, Fotocollectie Anefo 929-0810 | CC0 (Nationaal Archief) |

### Image gaps

- **The Emergency-era material itself:** the *Anushasan parva* postmarks, Twenty Point Programme posters, family-planning posters, the censored and blank newspaper pages, and the *Kissa Kursi Ka* stills. Not included: Indian works of 1975-77 are not public domain in the U.S., and no openly licensed copies were found. **Fillable** only if an Indian government body releases them under GODL-India or the rights holders license them.
- **Underground bulletins and Janata campaign posters.** Not found under an open licence. Not fillable from this environment.
- **The 2019 takedown pages.** Sample content from the removed Pages is copyrighted and may show real people. Not included.
- **The 2024 gazette notification.** The notification is an Indian government document; its U.S. status is unclear and it could not be fetched from the environment used to build this page. **Possibly fillable** from the Gazette of India.
- **U.S. government records.** State Department and CIA cables on the Emergency (public domain) exist in the *Foreign Relations of the United States* series, but history.state.gov and cia.gov could not be reached from this environment. **Fillable.**

## Sources

- Ramachandra Guha, *India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy* (Macmillan/HarperCollins, 2007), chapters on the Emergency and the 1977 election, including Barooah's slogan.
- Paul McGarr, *Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India's Secret Cold War* (Cambridge University Press, 2024), ch. 8, ["The Foreign Hand: Indira Gandhi and the Politics of Intelligence"](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/spying-in-south-asia/foreign-hand-indira-gandhi-and-the-politics-of-intelligence/59746BF683F8E5109E76ABEA2D2616B5); interview: [The Wire, "Indira Gandhi overdid the 'foreign hand' but some of her fears about the CIA were real"](https://m.thewire.in/article/video/indira-gandhi-overdid-the-foreign-hand-but-some-of-her-fears-about-the-cia-were-real-paul-mcgarr).
- Shah Commission of Inquiry, Interim Reports I and II (11 March and 26 April 1978) and Third and Final Report (6 August 1978), Government of India. Summaries: [Supreme Court Observer on detention figures](https://www.scobserver.in/journal/the-constitutional-sanction-for-preventive-detention-reeks-of-a-fear-of-freedom/); [Ashoka University catalogue of the Shah Commission papers](https://www.ashoka.edu.in/static/doc_uploads/file_1604757712.pdf).
- [Deccan Herald/PTI, 19 August 2025: over 1.07 crore sterilised during Emergency, exceeding target of 67.4 lakh](https://www.deccanherald.com/india/over-107-cr-sterilised-during-emergency-exceeding-target-of-674-lakh-govt-3687283)
- The Hindu, 30 June 2025, "The forced sterilisations of Emergency" (p. 7).
- Davidson R. Gwatkin, "Political Will and Family Planning: The Implications of India's Emergency Experience", *Population and Development Review* 5(1), 1979, pp. 29-59.
- [Cutting the Chai: audio and text of Indira Gandhi's All India Radio broadcast, 26 June 1975](https://www.cuttingthechai.com/2015/06/7087/listen-indira-gandhi-announcing-the-emergency-on-all-india-radio-june-26-1975/)
- [The Leaflet: predicament of the press during the Emergency (power cut; Shah Commission finding)](https://theleaflet.in/forty-seven-years-since-declaration-of-emergency/predicament-of-the-press-during-the-emergency)
- [The Leaflet: "Singhasan khali karo ki janata aati hai", Dinkar and JP's call](https://theleaflet.in/singhasan-khali-karo-ki-janata-aata-hai-jps-call-for-total-revolution); [The Quint: the Ramlila Maidan rally](https://www.thequint.com/voices/blogs/ramlila-maidan-rally-shook-indira-emergency)
- [UNI: the Indian Express blank editorial, 28 June 1975](https://uniindia.com/-this-day-in-1975-indian-express-issued-framed-blank-editorial-protesting-censorship-during-emergency--guv/east/news/2057096.html)
- [Britannica: Twenty-Point Program](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twenty-Point-Program)
- [Indian Philatelics catalogue: "Anushasan Parva Hain – Vinoba Bhave" hand-struck slogan cancellation](http://www.indianphilatelics.com/cancellations/slogan-cancellations/political-awareness/emergency/item/12867-emergency-anushasan-parva-hain-vinoba-bhave-hand-struck-slogan-cancellation-in-hindi-language-type-2.html); [Vinoba Bhave, "Anushasan Parva (Chapter on Discipline)", *My Dear Pranav*, mkgandhi.org](https://www.mkgandhi.org/vinoba/pranav_bk/letter43.php)
- [ThePrint: *Kissa Kursee Ka*, the parody that sent Sanjay Gandhi to jail](https://theprint.in/feature/reel-take/kissa-kursee-ka-a-parody-that-sent-sanjay-gandhi-to-jail-and-laid-bare-indian-politics/217513/)
- [The Quint: Advani's critique of the press during the Emergency ("bend"/"crawl")](https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/1975-emergency-lk-advani-critique-of-indian-media-rings-true)
- [Wikipedia: Sanjay Gandhi (five-point programme, merger into a twenty-five point programme)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Gandhi); [Wikipedia: 1977 Indian general election (Janata framing, seat totals)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Indian_general_election)
- [Sikh Research Institute: the Emergency and the Sikhs (Lok Sangharsh Samiti)](https://sikhri.org/articles/the-emergency-the-sikhs); [Wikipedia: George Fernandes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Fernandes); [Organiser (RSS-aligned weekly), 24 June 2025, on the underground](https://organiser.org/2025/06/24/298840/bharat/national-emergency-1975-the-murder-of-the-indian-republic-on-june-25/)
- [All India Radio News, 13 July 2024: BJP slams opposition leaders for defending Emergency](https://www.newsonair.gov.in/bjp-slam-opposition-leaders-for-defending-emergency)
- [Facebook (Meta), 1 April 2019: Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior and Spam From India and Pakistan](https://about.fb.com/news/2019/04/cib-and-spam-from-india-pakistan/)
- [CNN Business, 1 April 2019](https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/01/tech/facebook-india-congress-accounts-removed); [The News Minute, 1 April 2019](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/facebook-removes-687-pages-accounts-associated-indian-national-congress-it-cell-99287); [Dawn, 1 April 2019 (ISPR network)](https://www.dawn.com/news/1473232)
- [The Quint: Silver Touch and *The India Eye*](https://www.thequint.com/news/india/silver-touch-technologies-bjp-the-india-eye-namo-app-narendra-modi); [ThePrint: around 200 pro-BJP pages removed](https://theprint.in/politics/around-200-pro-bjp-pages-removed-in-facebooks-largest-purge-in-india/215498/); [Quartz: most purged pages were pro-Congress, but the BJP took a bigger hit](https://qz.com/india/1585087/facebooks-fake-pages-purge-hits-modis-bjp-harder-than-congress)
- [Tribune, 12 July 2024: government to observe 25 June as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/government-to-observe-june-25-as-samvidhaan-hatya-diwas-to-commemorate-emergency-639163); [Ministry of Culture: Samvidhan Hatya Diwas](https://culture.gov.in/commemorations/samvidhan-hatya-diwas)
- [Tribune, July 2024: Congress response ("another headline-grabbing exercise")](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/another-headline-grabbing-exercise-congress-on-government-declaring-june-25-as-samvidhaan-hatya-diwas-639169); [ANI, 25 June 2025: "An undeclared emergency for past 11 years"](https://www.aninews.in/news/national/politics/an-undeclared-emergency-for-past-11-years-congress-jairam-ramesh-slams-bjp20250625112421/)
- [Deccan Herald: Delhi High Court dismisses PIL challenging Samvidhan Hatya Diwas](https://www.deccanherald.com/india/delhi-high-court-dismisses-pil-challenging-centre-declaring-june-25-as-samvidhan-hatya-diwas-3123339); [ANI, 26 July 2024: Delhi HC junks PIL](https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/delhi-hc-junks-pil-challenging-notification-designating-june-25-as-samvidhan-hatya-divas20240726143616/)