Dark days of Emergency can’t be forgotten: PM Modi

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 25

On the 46th year of the imposition of Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday led the offensive against the Congress saying that those dark days could never be forgotten.

“The #DarkDaysOfEmergency can never be forgotten. The period from 1975 to 1977 witnessed a systematic destruction of institutions,” the PM said on Twitter.

He urged everyone to pledge to do “everything possible to strengthen India’s democratic spirit, and live up to the values enshrined in our Constitution”.

Sharing a related BJP post on the Emergency, the PM added, “This is how Congress trampled over our democratic ethos. We remember all those greats who resisted the Emergency and protected Indian democracy. #DarkDaysOfEmergency.”

The post asks people, “Can you believe this was banned during the Emergency” and then answers — “Movies on Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh; Kishore Kumar songs; quotes of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore and protests.”

The Congress hit back with party media head Randeep Surjewala tagging the PM’s tweet and noting, “Says a PM synonymous with three ‘Ss’ Suppress, Stifle and Subjugate.”

“A PM who has undermined the Parliament, who has disdain for the Constitution, who has eroded institutions, who has trampled democracy, shouldn’t preach. India has been under Modi-gency for seven years,” Surjewala retorted.

Earlier, BJP chief JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah also attacked the Congress with Shah saying, “On this very day in 1975, the Congress in its lust for power had murdered the largest democracy of the world by imposing an Emergency. Countless people were jailed, the press was locked up. Fundamental rights of the people were snatched and the Parliament and judiciary were reduced to mute spectators.”