Aftershocks of Emergency: When Referendum almost made it to Constitution

FOUNDING fathers of the Constitution of India fought hard to keep 'Referendum' out of it, but it almost made it to the statute in 1978 in the aftermath of Emergency.

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The then Janata government proposed 'referendum' being part of the Constitution as an additional 'safeguard' to thwart any repeat of Emergency-like situation and even got it passed in the Lok Sabha, but the idea had to be dropped as it could not cut the mustard in the Rajya Sabha.

Several Janata Party leaders and their allies were also not very comfortable with the idea of going back to the public despite having their own government being in power.

The Constitution Amendment Bill of 1978, proposed by the then Law Minister Shanti Bhushan, cited the Emergency as an example when fundamental rights, including those of life and liberty, granted to citizens by the Constitution can be taken away by a transient majority.

It said that it was necessary to provide adequate safeguards against the recurrence of such a contingency in future and to ensure to people themselves an effective voice in determining the form of government under which they are to live.

The bill sought that "certain changes" in the Constitution can be made only if they are approved by the people of India by a majority of votes at a referendum in which at least 51 per cent of the electorate participate.

It would have been applicable for Constitutional amendments that were capable of impairing its secular or democratic character, abridging or taking away fundamental rights prejudicing or impeding free and fair elections on the basis of adult suffrage and compromising the independence of judiciary.