Though a few books exist on the emergency per se, this is the first attempt to critically analyse it in tandem with thw JP movement. Mapping the course of events in these years 1973-1977, Bipan Chandra finds that while both Jayaprakash Narayan and Indira Gandhi ostensibly sought to protect democracy, the manner in which their political efforts were played out went against the grain of it, adversely influencing and posing a dilemme for post 19977 politics in India.

In The Name Of Democracy: JP Movement and the Emergency

An unusual and insightful perspective of Indian democracy's dark hour<br />'When Jayaprakash Narayan, the leader of the JP movement in north India, pressed for the resignation of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it prompted her to impose internal Emergency. In this fascinating account, Bipan Chandra traces the events that led up to this moment and makes some startling revelations. He finds that there was a real danger of the JP movement turning fascist, given the fuzzy ideology of Total Revolution, its confused leadership and dependence on the RSS for its organization. At the same time, despite the authoritarianism inherent in the Emergency, particularly with the rising power of Sanjay Gandhi and his Youth Congress brigade, Indira Gandhi did end it and call for elections.<br />Finely argued, incisive and original, this book offers significant insight into those turbulent years and joins the ever-relevant debate on the acceptable limits of popular protest in a democracy .

Books like In the Name of Democracy: Jp Movement and the Emergency

In the Name of Democracy: Jp Movement and the Emergency

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