Fifty years ago, in June 1975, India’s then prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a nationwide Emergency. Civil liberties were suspended, opposition leaders jailed and the press censored. In an interview with journalist Paul Saltzman in September 1975, Mrs Gandhi defended her decision to impose the Emergency, claiming it was necessary to safeguard the “country’s unity and integrity”. “I have not taken any powers whatsoever. We are functioning absolutely within the constitution,” she said. Watch

On this day in 1975, the Emergency was imposed in India. | Indiatimes