Amid the heated war of words between the Opposition and government over the remembrance of June 25 as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a fresh broadside at the grand old party and enumerated many incidents of previous Congress regimes when the democracy was 'murdered'.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, in a presser on Saturday, termed the Emergency imposed during the Indira Gandhi regime, as the darkest chapter of Independent India and explained how the common people were made to live an undignified life and their freedom was snatched.
He said that when the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government returned to power in 1980 after the Emergency, it dismissed many state governments in one stroke and the startling premise for this was that the parties lost the moral right to stay in power in the states, following their defeat in Central elections.
Recalling the horror and painful times of the Emergency, the BJP MP enumerated seven instances of oppression and demanded that Congress gives an answer to these injustices, rather than crying hoarse about alleged suppression in the present government.
"Fundamental rights were taken away, there was no right to life. If you were caught by police, you had no right to secure bail, you couldn't apply for bail. There was no freedom to speak your mind in public, your speeches could have been construed as a revolt against the government. Whole opposition was put behind bars for 18 months," Sudhanshu Trivedi said.
Further pointing out incidents of amending the Constitution at its will, he said, "The Preamble -- the very spirit of Constitution was also altered with, secular and socialist words were added while Opposition leaders were in jail during Emergency. By introducing the 38th and 39th amendments, the then Indira dispensation snatched away the rights to review any government decision."
Notably, the Centre on Friday declared to observe June 25 as 'Samvidhaan hatya diwas' every year to mark the 'inhuman pains' of commoners during the 18-month period. This prompted harsh rejoinders from Congress as it accused the government of raking up 50-year-old chapter for political benefits and not paying heed to instances of 'muzzling and stifling' of democratic voices under the current dispensation.
The BJP spokesperson, replying to Congress' charge, said that democracy was strangled and murdered multiple times under Congress-led governments, starting from the Nehru regime to UPA I and UPA II.
"Democracy was murdered when thousands of political opponents were put behind bars without any crime while journalists were imprisoned and their voices silenced. Democracy was murdered when the Congress PM defied directions of the High Court and imposed the Emergency," he said.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP further elaborating on the brazen abuse of power during Cong-eras, said "If anyone wrote an anti-establishment article, he would have been jailed for two years during Nehru regime. If singer Kishore Kumar refused to attend a Congress-sponsored programme, his songs were banned from the public broadcaster. There was a blatant abuse of power when freedom of the Press was withdrawn."
Citing instances from UPA I and II, he said that Sonia Gandhi was forced to resign after a row over her NAC chairman post, falling in the ambit of the office of profit. However, the government in spite of respecting democratic principles went to abuse it by introducing an amendment that put the NAC out of office of profit.
Recounting the informal resignation by the serving President APJ Abdul Kalam, he said that the Constitutional head of the country was made to sign a document while on a Moscow visit and the incident left him so perturbed that he tendered his resignation after returning home. It was after the persuasion of the then PM Manmohan Singh that the matter was resolved. Abdul Kalam also documented this incident in his book -- The Turning Point, he said.
With inputs from IANS
