Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address invoked the 1975 Emergency, terming it a “sin of murdering the Constitution” and urging citizens to stay steadfast in defending democratic values.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on Friday, PM Modi said, “50 years ago, India’s Constitution was strangled and backstabbed; the country was turned into a jail. An emergency was imposed. It has been 50 years of the Emergency. No generation in the country should forget this sin of murdering the Constitution. They should not forget the sinners who murdered the Constitution. We should go ahead by further strengthening our dedication to the Constitution of India. That is our inspiration.”
The remarks came as the country marks half a century since the Emergency was imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975. PM Modi, who had in June described the anniversary as a “prime example of their shenanigans,” reiterated that the 21-month period represented one of the darkest chapters in India’s democratic history.
PM Modi said that the imposition of the Emergency by the Congress had not only violated the spirit of the Constitution but had also placed “democracy under arrest”.
In a series of posts on X, PM Modi said, “No Indian would ever forget the manner in which the spirit of our Constitution was violated, the voice of Parliament was muzzled, and attempts were made to control the courts. The 42nd Amendment was a prime example of their shenanigans. The poor, marginalised, and downtrodden were particularly targeted, and their dignity was insulted.”
(ANI)
