n In June 1975, Emergency was clamped by Indira Gandhi at a point of time when her writ ran through both the Congress party and the government at the Centre.
n In November 2016, Narendra Modi announced demonetisation when his authority within the ruling BJP and in the Central Government were practically unchallenged.
n Emergency was declared, citing a perceived “threat” to India’s security. The real motive was to stifle the opposition and lengthen Indira’s stay in power.
n Demonetisation was announced, initially citing it as a tool to flush out ‘black’ money from the economy. The real reason, experts feel, was the urge to come up with something spectacular, having realised the government’s failure to confiscate unaccounted wealth stashed away in offshore accounts.
n When Emergency was promulgated, opposition parties were in disarray and there was no clear voice to counter the Congress in national politics.
n The demonetisation move came with the BJP enjoying a clear majority in Lok Sabha (Lower House) and opposition parties, particularly the Congress, lacking teeth.
n Interestingly, despite it being such an un-democratic measure, a section of the masses strongly believed that Emergency had helped restore discipline and accountability, as trains ran on time and government employees never reported late for work.
n With demonetisation, even with deaths due to fatigue from long hours of waiting outside banks and ATMs, a sizeable section of the masses still feel it’s only collateral damage to bring hoarders of black money to book.