Jaitley likens Indira Gandhi to Hitler on 43rd anniversary of Emergency
Mumbai: Slamming the Congress party on the 43rd anniversary of Emergency, imposed in the year 1975, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday accused former prime minister Indira Gandhi of transforming democracy into dictatorship, further likening her to Hitler. The Union Minister further said that her actions echoed Hitler's “Reichstag” episode.
Drawing a comparison between Indira Gandhi and Hitler, the Union Minister said the two leaders never abrogated the Constitution.
Mrs. Gandhi's imposition of Emergency under Article 352, suspension of fundamental rights under Article 359 and her claim that “disorder was planned by the opposition in the country”, echoed Hitler's “Reichstag” episode as exposed by the Nuremberg trials after 13 years
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 25, 2018
Both Hitler & Mrs. Gandhi never abrogated the Constitution. They used a republican Constitution to transform democracy into dictatorship. Hitler arrested most of the opposition Members of Parliament & converted his minority Government in Parliament into a 2/3rd majority govt.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 25, 2018
Highlighting the political situation of that time, Jaitley said an atmosphere of fear and terror prevailed in the country with all political activity coming to a halt.
During Emergency an atmosphere of fear & terror prevailed in the country. Political activity had come to a grinding halt. The dissenters were mainly political workers of the opposition party & the RSS. They kept repeatedly organizing Satyagrahas & courted arrest.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 25, 2018
The Union Minister also discussed how the press was subdued during the emergency and Congress pushed the idea of single-party democracy through its paper, National Herald.
The press was completely terrorized. Most editors & journalists surrendered & reconciled with the Idea of living in dictatorship. The Congress Party newspaper “National Herald” editorially commented that time had come for India to evolve into a single party democracy.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 25, 2018
The BJP leader also recalled the famous “Indira is India and India is Indira” quote by the then Congress president Devakanta Barua. Jaitley remembered Jayaprakash Narayan telling Indira Gandhi in a letter, "Do not equate yourself with the nation. India is immortal, you are not”.
The then AICC President, Devakanta Barua proclaimed “Indira is India and India is Indira”. In a letter to Mrs. Gandhi from his detention JP wrote “Do not equate yourself with the nation. India is immortal, you are not”.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 25, 2018
Jaitley, who is writing posts on Facebook on the anniversary of the Emergency under a three-part series titled 'The Emergency revisited', also said the lesson from Emergency is, "If you curb free speech and allow only propaganda, you become the first victim of propaganda because you start believing that your own propaganda is the truth and the full truth."
The Lesson from the Emergency is that if you curb free speech and allow only propaganda, you become the first victim of propaganda because you start believing that your own propaganda is the truth and the full truth.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 25, 2018
The senior minister has drawn parallels between the German dictator Hitler and Indira Gandhi in the past too.
On Sunday, in the first part of his series, Jaitley had recalled how more than four decades ago the government led by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed ‘phoney Emergency on account of proclaimed policy that Indira Gandhi was indispensable to India and all contrarian voices had to be crushed.’
