Tharoor slams Emergency in op-ed, calls it a period of ‘Unspeakable Cruelty’

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has launched a searing critique of the 1975 Emergency in a recent op-ed for Project Syndicate, describing it as a time of “unspeakable cruelty” and systemic repression. While he stressed that today’s India is “not the India of 1975,” Tharoor did not mince words in recounting the violations of civil liberties under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s regime.

My column for a global audience on the lessons for India and the world of the Emergency, on its 50th anniversary @ProSynhttps://t.co/QZBBidl0Zt

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor)

My column for a global audience on the lessons for India and the world of the Emergency, on its 50th anniversary @ProSynhttps://t.co/QZBBidl0Zt

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 9, 2025

">July 9, 2025

Tharoor wrote that Indira Gandhi had justified the Emergency by claiming that “only a state of emergency could combat internal disorder and external threats.” But in reality, he said, it enabled “a horrifying litany of human-rights abuses,” where dissent was crushed, and key institutions were gagged.

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He recalled that during the 21-month period between June 1975 and March 1977, “journalists, activists, and opposition leaders found themselves behind bars,” and even the judiciary, under pressure, “upheld the suspension of habeas corpus and citizens' right to liberty.”

Tharoor was especially harsh in his assessment of Sanjay Gandhi’s role, calling his actions “acts of unspeakable cruelty.” Referring to the notorious sterilisation drive, Tharoor wrote: “The quest for discipline and order often translated into unspeakable cruelty, exemplified by the forced vasectomy campaigns... where coercion and violence were used to meet arbitrary targets.”

The article also comes as Tharoor’s growing divergence from the Congress high command becomes increasingly visible.