Emergency 1975: Amit Shah said “Leaders in the Congress were feeling suffocated”

New Delhi:

Home Minister Amit Shah today tweeted to honour those who fiercely opposed the Emergency as India completed 45 years since former prime minister Indira Gandhi took extreme freedom-curtailing measures in June 1975.

The Emergency that lasted till March 1977 saw civil liberties being restricted and political dissent was suppressed.

Alluding to the Gandhis, Mr Shah criticised “one family” for turning the nation into a “prison” overnight.

“On this day, 45 years ago one family’s greed for power led to the imposition of the Emergency. Overnight the nation was turned into a prison. The press, courts, free speech… all were trampled over. Atrocities were committed on the poor and downtrodden,” Mr Shah tweeted.

“Due to efforts of lakhs of people, the Emergency was lifted. Democracy was restored in India but it remained absent in the Congress. The interests of one family prevailed over party interests and national interests. This sorry state of affairs thrives in today’s Congress too!” the Home Minister tweeted.

As one of India’s opposition parties, Congress needs to ask itself:

Why does the Emergency mindset remain?

Why are leaders who don’t belong to 1 dynasty unable to speak up?

Why are leaders getting frustrated in Congress?

Else, their disconnect with people will keep widening.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) June 25, 2020

BJP chief JP Nadda also tweeted to honour the leaders who fought to restore civil liberties and end the emergency.

“India salutes all the leaders who, despite enduring torture, fiercely opposed the Emergency. It was the tenacity of our satyagrahis that India’s democratic values successfully won over a totalitarian mindset,” Mr Nadda tweeted.

He posted a photo message with the heading “The dark chapter of Emergency.”

The announcement of the Emergency was made on June 25, 1975, days after the Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices and disbarred her as a parliamentarian for six years.

For much of the Emergency, most of Indira Gandhi’s political opponents were jailed and the press was censored. Several other human rights violations were reported. The Emergency remains one of the most controversial periods of independent India’s history.