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Amit Shah reminded Congress of the Emergency on the eve of its 50th anniversary, and said that people of the country will “never accept dictatorship”.
Union Home Minister slams Congress over Emergency (PTI Image)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday slammed Congress on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 in India, and said that the people of the country will “never accept dictatorship”.
Shah said that if the memory of as huge an occurrence as the Emergency starts fading from collective consciousness, it becomes “a serious threat to any democratic nation”.
“Today, we are the world’s largest democracy and the reason we overcame a dark chapter like the Emergency is because our nation never bows down to dictatorship,” Shah said while addressing an event on the Emergency in the national capital.
“We have won the war against Emergency because people of this country will never accept dictatorship…. The spirit of the Constitution and democracy is intrinsic to India. A lot of people ask why discuss something that happened 50 years ago? 50 years is a long time for memories to fade…. Hence, the memory of society about the emergency must be rejiged,” he added.
Amit Shah Attacks Congress
Attacking Congress over its “Constitution in danger” narrative, the Home Minister asked if then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took the Opposition leaders and citizens into confidence before declaring Emergency on June 25, 1975.
“Today, some people preach about the sanctity of the Constitution. But I want to ask — which party do you belong to? Remember the morning when Indira Gandhi announced the Emergency on All India Radio. Was Parliament consulted before this? Were the opposition leaders and citizens taken into confidence? Those who talk about protecting democracy today — were you the Rakshaks (protectors) of the Constitution back then, or its Bhakshaks (destroyers)? They claimed the Emergency was declared to protect the nation. But the truth is — it was declared to protect their own power,” Shah said.
Describing the circumstances prevailing during the Emergency, Shah said that people were labelled as “anti-national” without taking part in any protest or indulging in sloganeering.
“Just imagine that moment during the Emergency — one day, you are a free citizen of India, and the next morning, you wake up as a subject under a dictator. Until yesterday, you were a journalist — the fourth pillar of democracy, showing the mirror of truth. The next day, you are labelled an anti-social element and declared anti-national. You didn’t raise any slogans, didn’t take part in any protest — your only “fault” was that your thoughts were free,” he said.
Samvidhan Hatya Divas
In 2024, Amit Shah announced that the Centre has decided to observe June 25 as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas (Constitution Murder Day)’ every year, as a reminder of the Emergency imposed by the then Congress regime in 1975.
The decision was slammed by Congress, which dubbed it a “hypocrisy”.
“PM Modi imposed an undeclared Emergency for 10 long years before the people of India handed him a decisive personal, political, and moral defeat on June 4, 2024 – which will go down in history as Modi Mukti Diwas,” Jairam Ramesh had then said on X, referring to the BJP’s inability to cross 272 seats mark on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes…Read More
Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes… Read More
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