Introduction

Indira Nehru Gandhi is one of the most respected and influential political figures in the history of
Independent India. She was the first and only female prime minister of the world’s largest
democracy. Between 1967 and 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to obtain near-absolute
control over the government and the Indian National Congress party, as well as a huge majority
in Parliament. The first was achieved by concentrating the central government's power within
the Prime Minister's Secretariat, rather than the Cabinet, whose elected members she saw as a
threat and distrusted. For this she relied on her principal secretary, P. N. Haksar, a central figure
in Indira's inner circle of advisors. Further, Haksar promoted the idea of a "committed
bureaucracy" that required hitherto-impartial government officials to be "committed" to the
ideology of the ruling party of the day.

Within the Congress, Indira ruthlessly out-maneuvered her rivals, forcing the party to split in
1969—into the Congress (O) (comprising the old-guard known as the "Syndicate") and her
Congress (R). Most of the All-India Congress Committee and Congress MPs sided with the
prime minister. Indira's party was of a different breed from the Congress of old, which had been
a robust institution with traditions of internal democracy. In the Congress (R), on the other hand,
members quickly realised that their progress within the ranks depended solely on their loyalty to
Indira Gandhi and her family, and ostentatious displays of sycophancy became routine. In the
coming years, Indira's influence was such that she could install hand-picked loyalists as chief
ministers of states, rather than their being elected by the Congress legislative party.

Indira's ascent was backed by her charismatic appeal among the masses that was aided by her
government's near-radical leftward turns. These included the July 1969 nationalisation of several
major banks and the September 1970 abolition of the; these changes were often done suddenly,
via ordinance, to the shock of her opponents. Subsequently, unlike the Syndicate and other
opponents, Indira was seen as "standing for socialism in economics and secularism in matters of
religion, as being pro-poor and for the development of the nation as a whole." The prime
minister was especially adored by the disadvantaged sections—the poor, Dalits, women and
minorities. For them, she was their Indira Amma, a personification of Mother India.

In the 1971 general elections, the people rallied behind Indira's populist slogan of Garibi
Hatao! (get rid of poverty!) to award her a huge majority (352 seats out of 518). "By the margin
of its victory," historian Ramachandra Guha later wrote, Congress (R) came to be known as the
real Congress, "requiring no qualifying suffix." In December 1971, under her proactive war
leadership, India routed arch-enemy Pakistan in a war that led to the independence of
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. Awarded the Bharat Ratna the next month, she was at her
greatest peak; for her biographer Inder Malhotra, "The Economist's description of her as the
'Empress of India' seemed apt." Even opposition leaders, who routinely accused her of being a
dictator and of fostering a personality cult, referred to her as Durga, a Hindu goddess.

During 1973–75, political unrest against the Indira Gandhi government increased across the
country. (This led some Congress party leaders to demand a move towards a presidential system,
with a more powerful directly elected executive.) The most significant of the initial such
movement was the Nav Nirman movement in Gujarat, between December 1973 and March 1974.
Student unrest against the state's education minister ultimately forced the central government to
dissolve the state legislature, leading to the resignation of the chief minister, Chimanbhai Patel,
and the imposition of President's rule. After the re-elections in June 1975, Gandhi's party was
defeated by the Janata alliance, formed by parties opposed to the ruling Congress party.
Meanwhile there were assassination attempts on public leaders as well as the assassination of the
railway minister L.N.Mishra by a bomb. All of these indicated a growing law and order problem
in the entire country, which Mrs. Gandhi's advisors warned her of for months.

In March–April 1974, a student agitation by the Bihar Chatra Sangharsh Samiti received the
support of Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, referred to as JP, against the Bihar
government. In April 1974, in Patna, JP called for "total revolution," asking students, peasants,
and labour unions to non-violently transform Indian society. He also demanded the dissolution of
the state government, but this was not accepted by Centre. A month later, the railway-employees
union, the largest union in the country, went on a nationwide railways strike. This strike was
brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government, which arrested thousands of employees
and drove their families out of their quarters.

he 42nd amendment to Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Forty-

second amendment) Act, 1976, was enacted during the Emergency (25 June 1975 – 21 March
1977) by the Indian National Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi. Most provisions of
the amendment came into effect on 3 January 1977, others were enforced from 1 February and
Section 27 came into force on 1 April 1977. The 42nd Amendment is regarded as the most
controversial constitutional amendment in Indian history. It attempted to reduce the power of
the Supreme Court and High Courts to pronounce upon the constitutional validity of laws. It laid
down the Fundamental Duties of Indian citizens to the nation. This amendment brought about the
most widespread changes to the Constitution in its history and is sometimes called a "mini-
Constitution" or the "Constitution of Indira".

The Emergency era had been widely unpopular, and the 42nd Amendment was the most
controversial issue. The clampdown on civil liberties and widespread abuse of human rights by
police angered the public. The Janata Party which had promised to "restore the Constitution to
the condition it was in before the Emergency", won the 1977 general elections. The Janata
government then brought about the 43rd and 44th Amendments in 1977 and 1978 respectively,
to restore the pre-1976 position to some extent. However, the Janata Party was not able to fully
achieve its objectives.

On 31 July 1980, in its judgement on Minerva Mills v. Union of India1, the Supreme Court
declared unconstitutional two provisions of the 42nd Amendment which prevent any
constitutional amendment from being "called in question in any Court on any ground" and
accord precedence to the Directive Principles of State Policy over the Fundamental Rights of
individuals respectively. This respectively amends mostly of whole constitution, hence is called
as mini constitution.

1
AIR 1980 SC 1789
List of Amendments and Other Changes

Sr. No. Portion Amended Change Made

1. Preamble Amendment
2. Art. 31 Insertion of new sub-heading
3. Art. 31C Amendment
4. Art. 31D
Insertion
5. Art. 32A
6. Art. 39 Amendment
7. Art. 39A
8. Art. 43A
Insertion
9. Art. 48A
10. PART IVA
11. Art. 55
12. Art. 74
13. Art. 81
14. Art. 82 Amendment
15. Art. 83
16. Art. 100
18. Art. 102
19. Art. 103 Substitution
20. Art. 105
Amendment
21. Art. 118
22. Art. 131A
23. Art. 139A Insertion
24. Art. 144A
25. Art. 145 Amendment
26. Art. 150 Substitution
27. Art. 166
Amendment
28. Art. 170
29. Art. 172
30. Art. 189 Amendment
31. Art. 191
32. Art. 192 Substitution
33. Art. 194
34. Art. 208
Amendment
35. Art. 217
36. Art. 225
37. Art. 226 Substitution
38. Art. 226A Insertion
39. Art. 227
Amendment
40. Art. 228
41. Art. 228A Insertion
42. Art. 257A
43. Art. 311
Amendment
44. Art. 312
45. PART XIVA Insertion
46. Art. 330
47. Art. 352
48. Art. 353
50. Art. 356
51. Art. 357
Amendment
52. Art. 359
53. Art. 366
54. Art. 368
55. Art. 371F
56. Seventh Schedule
Special provisions as to
57. Art. 226
pending petition
58. Power of President to Remove Difficulties