New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA government has decided to observe June 25, the day on which former PM Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency in 1975, as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Friday.
“On June 25, 1975, the then PM Indira Gandhi, in a brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of our democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation. Lakhs of people were thrown behind bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced.” Shah posted on X along with a gazette notification.
‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’, to be observed the June 25 every year, will commemorate massive contributions of all those who endured inhuman pains of 1975 Emergency, he added.
This is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to counter the Opposition’s ‘save the Constitution’ narrative, which was also a key plank of the INDIA bloc in this general election.
Last month, addressing a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, President Droupadi Murmu invoked the Emergency of 1975, calling it “the biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had put out social media posts to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government. “Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution,” he said
Meanwhile, Congress has termed the move as “another headline grabbing exercise”. “Yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy by the non-biological PM who had imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten 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 ModiMukti Diwas,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on his X handle.
“This is a non-biological PM who has subjected the Constitution of India and its principles, values, and institutions to systematic assault. This is a non-biological PM whose ideological parivar had rejected the Constitution of India in Nov 1949 on the grounds that it did not derive inspiration from Manusmriti. This is a non-biological PM for whom democracy means only demo-kursi,” he added.
