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The party intends to make the 50th year of the Emergency relevant among the younger generation
While the decision to convene a session is made by the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs, there is no such indication, let alone confirmation, from within the government.
File image/Sansad TV
The Congress on Thursday preemptively claimed that the Narendra Modi government is all set to convene a special session of Parliament next month to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency—a political ulcer of the grand old party that the BJP keeps poking. While News18 has learnt that a special session is unlikely, what is beyond doubt is the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s intentions to mount an attack.
An internal document of the BJP said, “This year is the 50th year of emergency imposition by Smt. Indira Gandhi-led Congress government. The dark memories of brutality, trampling of democratic rights are still alive in country’s memory”.
The BJP will hold nationwide seminars with multiple speakers on this occasion. Meanwhile, “Loktantra Senani” (Warriors of Democracy) will also be facilitated by the party. The party will hold such events in more than 700 districts of India.
The BJP has tasked a pool of senior leaders—Arun Singh, Radha Mohan Agarwal, Saroj Pandey, Arvind Menon, OP Dhankar, and Lal Singh Arya—to coordinate with the team that will plan and execute the party’s efforts to make the 50th year of the Emergency relevant among the younger generation.
Highlighting that the BJP didn’t heed requests for a special session of Parliament after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Congress’s media head Jairam Ramesh said, “Now it appears that a special session of Parliament is being considered for June 25-26 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency.”
While the decision to convene a session is made by the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs, there is no such indication, let alone confirmation, from within the government.
A government source, though, told News18, “As of today, I am not aware of any such intentions of our government. However, since the claim is made by a senior leader like Jairam Ramesh, I want to point out one thing: last year, Parliament was in session during the anniversary of the Emergency. As the House observed a two-minute silence and read out a resolution, the Congress was left stranded. Ramesh must be reimagining those scenes and is dreading facing them again.”
Last year, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said that the country was subjected to dictatorship by late prime minister Indira Gandhi and its “democratic values were crushed and freedom of expression was stifled” during the Emergency.
BJP spokesperson KK Sharma told News18, “Leave the Parliament’s job to the government. But my question to Jairam Ramesh is, why is your past so impure that you still have to worry about a supposed special session on Emergency in 2025?”
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