New Delhi: Come Wednesday, it will be 50 years of proclamation of Emergency in India.
A day before the 50th anniversary of Emergency, Union Home minister Amit Shah slammed Congress party and said that the people of India will “never accept dictatorship.”
Addressing the ‘Aapatkaal Ke 50 Saal’ programme in Delhi, the Home minister stated that if the memory of the Emergency starts fading from collective consciousness, it becomes “a serious threat to any democratic nation.”
The reason why the world’s largest democracy overcame “a dark chapter like the Emergency is because our nation never bows down to dictatorship,” Shah remarked.
“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,” Shah argued.
He countered Congress’ ‘Constitution in danger’ narrative, asking whether then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took 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.
During Emergency, people were labelled “anti-national” without taking part in any protest or indulging in sloganeering, said Shah.
“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,” Shah said.
The BJP-headed Central government has decided to observe June 25 as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas’ (Constitution Murder Day) as a reminder of the Emergency imposed in 1975.
