New Delhi, June 25 — On the 49th anniversary of the Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the Congress party, stating that the dark days of the Emergency serve as a reminder of how the Congress subverted basic freedoms and trampled on the Constitution, which every Indian greatly respects.
In posts on X, Modi targeted the main opposition party, asserting that those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for the 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,” Modi said.
He further remarked, “The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism, but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again.”
Modi accused the then Congress government of disregarding every democratic principle just to cling to power, turning the nation into a jail. He added that any person who disagreed with the party was tortured and harassed, and socially regressive policies were unleashed to target the weakest sections.
On June 25, 1975, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a Congress stalwart, imposed the Emergency, suspending civil liberties, jailing opposition leaders and dissidents, and enforcing press censorship.
The prime minister noted that the anniversary is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency.
The first day of the 18th Lok Sabha on Monday saw a war of words between Prime Minister Modi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge over the imposition of the Emergency.
