Mumbai: Slamming the Congress for imposing a state of emergency in 1975, Prime Minister Modi said in Mumbai on Tuesday that the “Congress is behaving with the same mentality as seen during the Emergency, which was imposed on the country by misusing Constitutional provisions for selfish personal interests of ‘one family’, and the country was turned into a jail as more than 3 lakh people were arrested and the freedom of citizens was restricted.”
The BJP is observing ‘Black Day’ across the country to mark anniversary of the Emergency for giving the youth an idea about what happened during the said Emergency. Mr Modi also slammed the Congress for its impeachment motion moved against the Chief Justice of India and over many other issues in an event organised by the Mumbai BJP to express its gratitude towards those who fought against the Em-
ergency in 1975 and to discuss democratic values.
Mr Modi also alleged that, “The Congress which disrespected the Constitution, imposing the Emergency is now blaming the BJP over the Constitution being in danger and creating fear among Dalits and Muslims about the RSS and BJP.
PM Modi said, “The people of this country never thought that democracy would be killed for the lust of power of one family and its selfishness. The country was converted into jails and thousands of people, including prominent leaders were sent to jails without trials under MISSA. The rights of media, freedom of citizens and the rights given by the citizens were infringed.”
Modi, while slamming the Congress, said, “Emergency is a black spot on the golden history of the nation. The Congress doesn’t have faith in democracy. But now, they have realised that they can't get power.”
Mr Modi further added, “So they are claiming that they will protect the Constitution and alleging that the Constitution is in danger because of Modi and BJP. The BJP respects the Constitution and we are a democratic party too.”
Referring to the impeachment motion moved by the Congress against the CJI, Modi said, “The court's decisions were not honoured and pressure was created on the judiciary during the Emergency. Again, to put pressure on the judiciary the Congress has moved this motion for poor reasons.”
“It wasn’t just the media... such was the arrogance of the Congress and the family that when Kishore Kumar refused to sing at a Congress function, his songs were banned from radio and television,” the prime minister told a gathering in Mumbai as his party, the BJP, marked “Black Day” on the anniversary of the Emergency.
Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Congress had tried to silence the judiciary then and, in a similar manner, has sent out a message to it now by raking up several cases. "The support for the Emergency is in the DNA of the Congress," he alleged. The law minister refuted suggestions that the Modi government also used strong-arm tactics to silence critical voices. He cited publication of reports about the massive deposits of demonetised notes in a cooperative bank in Gujarat in which BJP president Amit Shah is a director to make his point. "My party is committed to a free press."
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Mr Modi was launching an attack on the Congress only to hide his own failures and the "false" promises and "jumlas" he had made to the public before coming to power. He alleged that an atmosphere of fear was being created in the country to suppress dissent with those opposing them dubbed as "anti-national" and that an "undeclared emergency" has been imposed in the country under Mr Modi.
"Delhi Sultanate's 'dictator' Modi, who is even more cruel than Aurangzeb, today gave lessons to the country on the Emergency imposed 43 years ago. By taking out his anger on the Congress, can a lid be put on Modiji's 'jumlas'? Today's Aurangzeb has enslaved democracy in the country including in his own party, the BJP,” he said.
Surjewala defended the Emergency saying it was imposed 43 years ago against the Janata Party which was pro-rich and pro-zamindars and was imposed to defend the rights of the poor.
