PM, Opposition trade barbs on anniversary of Emergency

New Delhi: Recalling the Emergency era on its 44th anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said “India’s soul was crushed to stay in power” and asserted that the nation cannot forgive those who were responsible for the act nor can it go back to the dark days of the Emergency.

However, the Opposition leaders, in particular TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury used the occasion to attack the Modi-led dispensation of imposing ‘super Emergency’ and attacking ‘secular democracy’.

The ruling BJP and its leaders recalled the Emergency as “one of the darkest chapters in India’s history”.

Mr Modi, who tweeted on the issue earlier during the day, also raised it during his reply to the motion of thanks to the Presidential address in the Rajya Sabha.

Recalling the era, Mr Modi said on the on the fateful night of June 25, “the soul of the country was crushed, the voice nation’s media was stifled, leaders were put behind bars just to save someone’s seat of power. It went against the judicial system.”

In his tweet, the PM said “India salutes all those greats who fiercely and fearlessly resisted the Emergency. India’s democratic ethos successfully prevailed over an authoritarian mindset.”

Continuing her tirade against the Modi government and the BJP, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee tweeted: “To-day is the anniversary of the #Emergency declared in 1975. For the last five years, the country went through a ‘Super Emergency’. We must learn our lessons from history and fight to safeguard the democratic institutions in the country.”