Modi's Nehru Jacket: President's Rule Invocations during the tenures of Prime Ministers Nehru and Modi

The President’s Rule impositions under Article 356 of the Constitution of India extraordinarily empower the central government to determine ‘constitutional machinery failure in a state (province)’ and acquire executive and legislative powers of the state (provincial) government, until the constitutional machinery is restored. In between 1950-2024, Indian central governments imposed 121 President’s Rule (PR) impositions, most of which occurred during single-party-personality-dominated central governments. This article examines PR invocations by the two single-party-personality-dominated central governments under the Prime Ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru and Narendra Modi in reference to the grounds, justifications, and state of restraints on these impositions. The article examines whether Modi used Nehru’s tactics (jacket) to impose PR impositions particularly against opposition-ruled states to counter dissent and empower single party-personality hegemony at national and provincial levels.