Key Points

Recounting the ordeal people faced during Emergency, BJP leader Prasad, who was in Mumbai, told the media that over 1.5 lakh people, including leaders Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Jayaprakash Narayan, George Fernandes, 250 journalists and social workers, were arrested, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was banned and judges were superseded.

Slamming the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader asked why the grand old party has not apologised for the imposition of the Emergency during which over 60 lakh people were forcefully sterilised and the country was virtually transformed into a jail.

"It is necessary to remember bitter memories to strengthen democracy," he said.

Notably, to mark 50 years of imposition of Emergency, the BJP is holding 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas (Constitution Murder Day)' across the country to make the people aware of their fundamental rights.

While the then government had cited "internal disturbance" as a reason for imposing the Emergency, critics argue it was an attempt to stifle dissent after a court invalidated Indira Gandhi's election.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this day marks 50 years of one of the darkest chapters in India's history, when the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution were set aside.

"It was as if the Congress Government in power at that time placed democracy under arrest!" said PM Modi in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the BJP and Prime Minister Modi, saying that it was a politically motivated move to divert attention from their failures.

Kharge claimed that PM Modi is repeatedly invoking a period that the country has moved past.

Earlier, RJD MP Manoj Jha while calling Emergency a “dark chapter” in India’s democratic journey argued that authoritarianism now thrives under the guise of democracy.

“There’s barely any difference between the dictatorship of that era and what we are witnessing today. Whenever you criticise someone else’s past, hold up a mirror to your present,” he said.

- IANS