The Black Hole of Centralization: Subnational Emergency Invocations During the Tenures of Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi

Abstract

The constitutional provision of “Subnational Emergency” under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, 1950, extraordinarily empowers the central (union) government to acquire executive and legislative powers of the states (subnational units) on the occurrence of an undefined and largely unrestrained state of “constitutional machinery failure” emergency. Since 1950, central governments have imposed 121 subnational emergency invocations covering almost all Indian states at least once. The oft-abused subnational emergency power has generated a black hole of centralization overpowering the gravity of federalism, constitutionalism, and democracy in India. The frequency of subnational emergency invocations reaches its zenith during the regimes of single-party personality-dominated central governments. The article comparatively explores two of the most prominent tenures of single-party personality-dominated central governments under Indira Gandhi (1967–1977, 1980–1984) and Narendra Modi (2014–2024) regarding the grounds, manner, justifications, and state of restraints on subnational emergency power.