The Congress on Friday sought to show the mirror to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to counter his ritualistic diatribe on the Emergency declared on this day 46 years ago, reminding him of the many instances of repression and trampling of democratic principles under him.
As Modi led other BJP leaders in recalling the Emergency, saying the dark days could never be forgotten, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala retorted on Twitter: “Says a Prime Minister who is synonymous with three S — Suppress, Stifle & Subjugate. A PM who has undermined Parliament, a PM who has disdain for the Constitution, a PM who has eroded Institutions, a PM who has trampled democracy shouldn’t preach, for India is under ‘Modi-gency’ for seven years.”
The Congress was responding to Modi’s tweet in which he had said “the dark days of Emergency can never be forgotten. The period from 1975 to 1977 witnessed a systematic destruction of institutions. Let us pledge to do everything possible to strengthen India’s democratic spirit, and live up to the values enshrined in our Constitution”.
BJP leaders dutifully remember the Emergency every year on June 25, hail constitutional values and shed tears over the curbs on freedom of expression during those two years.
The Congress, which has formally expressed remorse for imposing the Emergency and held internal debates on that bleak chapter of Indian democracy, now feels emboldened to lock horns with the BJP on the question of assault on democracy post-2014, citing Modi’s own track record on the constitutional values of freedom, equality and justice.
The Opposition party has recalled BJP veteran L.K. Advani’s grim caution after Modi became Prime Minister that an Emergency could still be imposed despite amendments to the Constitution to strengthen the legal safeguards.
Many Congress leaders on Friday pointed to the atmosphere of fear prevailing in the country and how institutional autonomy had been severely undermined over the past seven years.
Party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “Indira Gandhi herself corrected the mistake and even Rahul Gandhi has admitted the Emergency was wrong. But what is this Modiji — the terror in people’s minds today, when FIRs are registered for speaking the truth, anybody questioning the government is branded anti-national? You have surpassed the British regime in repression of the people. This is your sole legacy.”
Leaders of other parties who had fought the Congress during the Emergency also joined the debate.
RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha, whose leader Lalu Prasad had been jailed during the Emergency, tweeted: “If the Government 46 years ago had any idea about the wondrous work culture of the Government that came four decades later, they would not have invoked the constitutional provision of Emergency. Today’s rulers don’t even need the cover of the Constitution to create a republic of fear and terror. The snake is dead and the stick is also unused. This is the real emergency.”
Jha also retweeted a comment by stand-up comedian and government critic Kunal Kamra who said: “Every year BJP talking about Indira Gandhi’s imposed emergency being an attack on Indian democracy sounds like a snake giving a Ted talk on how poisonous its own venom is…”
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told journalists: “Emergency should be forgotten. It is over four decades now. We are over with it. That was a direct emergency. But now people are facing an indirect emergency.”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, without getting sucked into the Emergency debate, posted a tweet to point at the diminishing democratic space in India: “In the Modi Government’s second term, India has slipped from 94 to 111 on the Human Freedom Index (we were at 75 under UPA), from 79 to 105 in the Global Economic Freedom Index & from 129 to 131 in UNDP’s Human Development Report.”
