Article 275 relates to the emergency power vested in the President of Indian Union. The situations in which a Governor and the President may exercise the emergency powers vested in them may be quite different. There may arise a situation like the one that arose during the last Great War when, as a result of the German invasion of Poland, the whole world was plunged into war. When the last world war broke out, the then Government of India found it necessary to proclaim an emergency. Such situation or emergency is caused by a problem that concerns the whole world. On account of such a situation the whole country may be threatened with disaster. In the circumstances the President of the Indian Union has to exercise his own discretion and declare an emergency. But the State Governors may be faced with a situation that concerns only their State; and under such circumstances, they will have to exercise their own discretion and issue a Proclamation of Emergency. We, therefore, must vest them with emergency powers. The powers that were vested in the Central Government under the provisions of Section 93 of the Government of India Act, 1935 are now being tried to be retained under different articles of the Draft Constitution. The British have, no doubt, left the country, but their mentality of distrust is still lingering here. Whatever they gave us with one hand, they tried to snatch away with the other. The British rulers used to run the Government from Delhi. Forced by the growing agitation and compelled by circumstances, they gave some power to the people with the sole object of appeasing them. Even after granting Provincial not sure that the provinces would cooperate with them sincerely if a situation arose which required their co-operation, and it was only out of this distrust that they wanted to make some provisions to enable them to take up the Government of the province in their own hands in times of emergency. They did not want sincerely to band over the provincial Governments to us. In 1939 after the world war broke out, we protested against the emergency powers of the Governors and the Provincial Governments passed resolutions in their Legislatures against these powers being exercised by Governors. The fact is that we were not one with the Government that was then ruling over us against our wishes. It wanted our country and our people to participate in the war but people were against this; Mahatma Gandhi also advised the nation that it was immoral on our part to participate in the war. There were two trends then working in the country. The Central Government was forcing us to join the war while the different organisations that were fighting for freedom and had the independence of the country at heart were opposed to this, and they wanted to defeat the Government on that issue. They asked the Government to state the cause that warranted their participation in the war and for this purpose a meeting of the All India Congress Committee was also held. There ensued a grave struggle on account of this and the movement of 1942 was started. All this was the result of the second great war. It is, therefore, not proper for us to follow the Government of India Act, 1935, or take it as a Bible. But we find today that it is now actually being followed as a Bible. There is a saying in Sanskrit “Shrutya Eka Vakyatwat Anarthakyam Ththarthanam”
