In a counter to the bogey of the Emergency raised by the BJP, the Congress on Wednesday recounted how Constitutional values and principles were flouted under the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre after it came to power in 2014.
Earlier in the day, newly-elected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla censured the imposition of the Emergency by former prime minister Indira Gandhi on 25th June 1975 under the Congress government.
In a bid to blunt the ruling BJP’s criticism of the 1975 Emergency clamped by the then Congress government under late prime minister Indira Gandhi, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Between 2014 and 2024, all Constitutional values and principles were assaulted and the independence of all Constitutional bodies eroded.”
Drawing an inference from the murmurs in the ruling party circles in the run-up to the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Ramesh wrote on X, “During the election campaign Mr Modi asked for 400 paar to change the Constitution and he was rebuffed by the people resoundingly.”
Notably, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been raising the bogey of the past to hide his “shortcomings” while there is an “undeclared emergency” in the country under his government.
Kharge, who is also the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, was reacting to the prime minister’s jibe at Congress on the 49th anniversary of the Emergency. The Congress chief, in an apparent reference to prime minister’s Emergency remark, said in a post on X, “Narendra Modi ji, the country is looking towards the future, but you keep recalling the past to hide your shortcomings.”
He alleged that there has been an “undeclared emergency” in the country since the last 10 years under his (Modi’s) rule and it has dealt a deep blow to the Constitution and democracy.