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Congress continues to have dictatorial mindset of Emergency, says Nadda
BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday said the Congress continues to have the same dictatorial mindset that was behind the imposition of the Emergency 50 years back, stating that it believes only one family has a right to govern the country.
In his remarks on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, he said the Congress is still unable to reconcile to the idea of a person from a humble background, like Narendra Modi, as prime minister.
While Rahul Gandhi and the Congress cite the Constitution, he said the opposition party has still not apologised for the Emergency, the 21-month period between June 1975 and March 1977 during which opposition leaders were jailed, the press censored and civil liberties suspended by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Undemocratic amendments were introduced to the Constitution and its soul was distorted, he said of the era.
Nadda claimed that the law and order situation in the Congress-ruled states remained as it was in the Emergency, marked by suppression of dissent, religious appeasement and arrogance of power.
The Union health minister said during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had barred its leaders from appearing in programmes of some journalists.
If in power it files cases against journalists and boycotts them when in opposition, he added.
Recalling the jailing of opposition leaders, including from the Jana Sangh, the forerunner to the BJP, during the period, Nadda noted that Modi as an RSS functionary had then defied the government and spread awareness among people about the excesses of the Congress.
Nadda also urged people to read the book, 'The Emergency Diaries - Years that Forged a Leader, which highlights Modi's role in fighting the Emergency.
It is necessary to keep the memory of the Emergency and its consequences alive, he said, asserting that Indira Gandhi had turned the country into a laboratory for family rule and cult of personality.
Nadda noted that the Congress government during the Emergency punished an honest Supreme Court judge like Justice H R Khanna, who was superseded for the post of Chief Justice of India, for an order that went against the government.
A citizen had then no right to move court even if shot by police, he noted.
Paying tributes to those who staked their lives to protect democracy, Nadda said it was "a black chapter" in Indian democracy as the Constitution was "murdered".
The Congress continues to have the same dictatorial mindset, he alleged.
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