“Dark days can never be forgotten”: PM Modi on 46th anniversary of Emergency

Today marks a dark chapter in the history of Indian democracy. On this day in 1975, then president of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed announced internal emergency. The Emergency was imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi for a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977, when curbs were imposed on the fundamental rights of people.

On the 46th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those “dark days” can never be forgotten and called for taking a pledge to strengthen India’s democratic spirit and live up to the values enshrined in the Constitution.

“This is how Congress trampled over our democratic ethos. We remember all those greats who resisted the Emergency and protected Indian democracy,” he tweeted, while sharing a link about several draconian measures taken by the then Congress government.

“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.” he said.

Other senior BJP leaders also hit out at the Congress with Home Minister Amit Shah saying the Congress “murdered” democracy on this day in 1975 for its lust and arrogance of power.

Emergency was imposed to trample on voices that were raised against a family, he said, calling it a dark chapter in India’s democracy.

Assam chief minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, “#NationalEmergency was not done to thwart any attempt of political violence or sedition. It was a sheer manifestation of Gandhi’s anger & her attempt to enjoy political supremacy.”

Gandhi lifted Emergency in 1977 and called for Lok Sabha elections in which the Congress was handed a crushing defeat, its first ever since the country’s Independence in 1947, by the combined opposition of Janata Party.