Australia's Pivot to India by Andrew Charlton

Author:Andrew Charlton [Charlton, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Schwartz Books Pty. Ltd.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

12

DEMOCRACY

On a fateful summer night in 1975, as the Indian capital, New Delhi, slept under a warm blanket of sultry air, the wheels of a political upheaval were set in motion. It was a night that would alter the course of Indian democracy and instil fear in the hearts of millions. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the iron-willed daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, had made an unprecedented decision – to suspend the Indian constitution and declare a state of emergency.

The city’s streets, usually bustling with activity, were eerily silent, as if sensing the gravity of what was to unfold. In the corridors of power, a select few politicians and bureaucrats, loyal to Mrs Gandhi, were hastily summoned to her residence. It was there that they were informed of the impending declaration of the state of emergency. The order was given, and the machinery of the state began its relentless march towards an authoritarian regime. It was a time when a vast country of 600 million people was converted into a prison without walls.1

The clock struck midnight, and as 26 June dawned, the world’s largest democracy was plunged into darkness. New Delhi awoke to the news that the city was under siege. Roadblocks had been set up, with armed police officers checking cars for signs of opposition leaders.2 Civil liberties were suspended, opposition figures were arrested and the press was muzzled. The country that had once fought for freedom from colonial rule now found itself shackled by its own leader.

The Emergency sent shockwaves through the world, with many fearing that the democratic foundations of India were crumbling. In Australia the news was greeted with alarm. The Sydney Morning Herald declared that it was a ‘black day for . . . third-world democracy, of which India was the champion and exemplar’.3 John Howard, then an Opposition member of parliament, described it as ‘a first-class tragedy for the parliamentary system throughout the world’.4

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks stretched into months, the atmosphere of fear stifled dissent, and the state machinery was used to suppress opposition to Gandhi’s rule.

The state of emergency finally ended after twenty-one months, but it cast a long shadow over Indian democracy and even over the concept of democracy in the new world. The emergency fed a global narrative that developing-country democracies were fragile. It played into a broader debate about whether democracy was even capable of producing the rapid economic growth that poorer countries so desperately needed.

Some intellectual critics had long claimed that democratic institutions create bureaucratic inefficiencies and policy paralysis, making it difficult to enact the necessary reforms for a strong economy. These critics argued that democratic politicians are forced to bend to popular demands at the expense of long-term national interests.5 Other critics argued that democratic governments are too susceptible to populism6 and unable to avoid the corrupting influence of powerful lobby groups who would direct national resources into ‘unproductive profit-seeking activities’.7 Using these arguments, critics asserted that more authoritarian governments have greater scope to impose economic reform and deliver nation-building change.

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