PM Modi also attached a clip of his Mann ki Baat radio address last year in which he had spoken about the Emergency era.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Photo: IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to people who opposed the Emergency imposed by the Congress led government at the Centre, saying the country will never forget their sacrifice.
“The Emergency was imposed in the country exactly 45 years ago. The people who struggled to defend the democracy at that time, I salute them. The country will never forget their sacrifice,” PM Modi said in a tweet in Hindi.
PM Modi also attached a clip of his Mann ki Baat radio address last year in which he had spoken about the Emergency era.
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आज से ठीक 45 वर्ष पहले देश पर आपातकाल थोपा गया था। उस समय भारत के लोकतंत्र की रक्षा के लिए जिन लोगों ने संघर्ष किया, यातनाएं झेलीं, उन सबको मेरा शत-शत नमन! उनका त्याग और बलिदान देश कभी नहीं भूल पाएगा। pic.twitter.com/jlQVJQVrsX
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2020
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 debarred her as a parliamentarian for six years. During the Emergency, most of Indira Gandhi’s political opponents were jailed and the press was censored.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister and former BJP President Amit Shah had criticised former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi saying one family’s “greed for power” led to the imposition of Emergency 45 years ago and the country was “turned into a prison.”
In a series of tweets, he said freedom was “trampled over” and “atrocities were committed on the poor and downtrodden.”
“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,” Amit Shah tweeted.
The Home Minister further stated that the Emergency was lifted due to the efforts of lakhs of people and 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!” Shah said.
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