India, Oct. 12 -- As Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi waves the national Tricolour from atop police barricades, and Union Cabinet ministers celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dubious silver jubilee-13 years as Gujarat chief minister and 12 as prime minister; it is being brought home to the people of India that something dangerous has threatened the delicate balance between the four pillars on which constitutional democracy has survived and even thrived in India.

No crisis since the Emergency of June 1975 has shaken the foundations of democracy as the present one has.

Indira Gandhi suspended the Constitution's guarantees by a proclamation under Article 352, jailed her opponents, censored the press, and through the 39th Amendm...