PM Modi Reflects on 50th Anniversary of Emergency: Spirit of Constitution Violated

Calling it one of the darkest chapters of India’s democratic history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the 50th year of the Emergency, said that no Indian would forget the manner in which the spirit of the Constitution was violated and the voice of Parliament muzzled.

Today marks fifty years since one of the darkest chapters in India’s democratic history, the imposition of the Emergency. The people of India mark this day as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas. On this day, the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution were set aside, fundamental rights were suspended, press freedom was extinguished and several political leaders, social workers, students and ordinary citizens were jailed,” the Prime Minister wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Slamming the then Congress government of Indira Gandhi for “placing democracy under arrest”, the PM said: “No Indian will ever forget the manner in which the spirit of our Constitution was violated, the voice of Parliament muzzled and attempts were made to control the courts. The 42nd Amendment is a prime example of their shenanigans. The poor, marginalised and downtrodden were particularly targeted, including their dignity insulted.”

The Prime Minister also hailed the people “who stood firm in the fight against the Emergency”. “These were the people from all over India, from all walks of life, from diverse ideologies who worked closely with each other with one aim: to protect India’s democratic fabric and to preserve the ideals for which our freedom fighters devoted their lives. It was their collective struggle that ensured that the then Congress Government had to restore democracy and call for fresh elections, which they badly lost,” he wrote.

PM Modi also reiterated his government’s “commitment to strengthening the principles in our Constitution and working together to realise the vision of a Viksit Bharat”.

The Emergency was imposed exactly 50 years ago on June 25, 1975. Indira Gandhi had become the Prime Minister after a landslide victory in 1971, but her government was rocked by crisis after crisis, like the expenses incurred during the 1971 India-Pak war, droughts, and the 1973 oil crisis that buffeted the Indian economy, causing hardship for the people.

On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of Allahabad High Court convicted Indira of electoral malpractice and struck down her election to Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli. As demands for her resignation grew louder, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed the Proclamation of Emergency late on the night of June 25.

The Emergency, which lasted till March 21, 1977, witnessed the Indira Gandhi’s Congress government using provisions in the Constitution to impose sweeping executive and legislative consequences on the country.

According to the source: The Indian Express.