New Delhi On the 45th anniversary of the Emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said one family’s greed for power led to the imposition of the Emergency and turned the nation into a prison overnight.
”On this day, 45 years ago one family’s greed for power led to the imposition of the Emergency. Overnight the nation was turned into a prison. The press, courts, free speech…all were trampled over. Atrocities were committed on the poor and downtrodden,” the former BJP president said alluding to the Gandhi family.
In a series of tweets, he said as one of India’s opposition parties, ”Congress needs to ask itself: Why does the Emergency mindset remain?”
The principal opposition party, he said, also ”needs to ask why are leaders who don’t belong to one dynasty unable to speak up?”
Mr Shah said the party should think ”why were leaders getting frustrated in Congress? Else, their disconnect with people will keep widening.”
The senior BJP leader said during the recent CWC meet, senior members and younger members raised a few issues, but they were shouted down.
A party spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked, he added.
”The sad truth is- leaders are feeling suffocated in Congress,” he maintained.
Mr Shah said due to efforts of lakhs of people, the Emergency was lifted. Democracy was restored in India but it remained absent in the Congress.
Related Posts
”The interests of one family prevailed over party interests and national interests. This sorry state of affairs thrives in today’s Congress too!” he pointed out.
BJP president JP Nadda also tweeted in Hindi, ”India salutes all the dignitaries who, despite enduring torture, fiercely opposed the Emergency. It was the tenacity of our satyagrahis that India’s democratic values successfully won over a totalitarian mindset.”
The saffron party in its tweets said, “Forcible sterilization created a strong terror wave throughout the country. Millions of helpless people were subjected to forcible sterilization and many lost their lives.”
”The RSS defied the ban imposed on it and thousands participated in Satyagraha (peaceful protests) against the ban and against the curtailment of fundamental rights.”
According to a report of the International Human Rights Organization, 1,40,000 people had been arrested without trial during then Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s emergency, said the twitter handle of the BJP.
”Emergency 1975- The unforgivable sin of Congress. Before the President’s signature on the declaration papers, top national leaders like JP Narayan, Morarji Desai, L K Advani and AB Vajpayee along with hundreds of others had been imprisoned overnight.
”All major democratic institutions like bureaucracy, police, media and judiciary were made to collapse by Congress govt,” the saffron party said.
The emergency was announced on June 25, 1975, days after the Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices and disbarred her as a parliamentarian for six years.
For much of the Emergency, most of Indira Gandhi’s political opponents were jailed and the press was censored. Several other human rights violations were reported. The Emergency remains one of the most controversial periods of independent India’s history.
(Agencies)