Amit Shah trolls Congress over 47th anniversary of Emergency

|HT|

Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched an all out attack on the Congress over the Emergency which was declared 47 years ago under the Indira Gandhi regime.

“On this day in 1975, the Congress snatched constitutional rights of every India for power and imposed Emergency. The Congress regime left even the foreign rule behind in terms of brutality. I pay my tribute to the patriots who sacrificed everything to re-establish democracy and defeat the dictatorial mindset”, the home minister tweeted.

In the midnight of June 25, 1975, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declared Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution. The emergency was imposed after then prime minister Indira Gandhi faced massive protests calling for her resignation after the Allahabad high court declared her 1971 Lok Sabha election victory invalid.

The Indira Gandhi government cited threats to national security, highlighting the recently concluded war with Pakistan. The Emergency is considered as a dark phase in the history of independent India. The period was marked by reports of censorship, frequent human rights violation and state incarcerations.

The Emergency was lifted after 18 months and fresh elections were held in 1977. The Congress was voted out of power for the first time since 1947 with Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi losing from their bastions Rae Bareli and Amethi respectively. Last year, Shah had called emergency a period of ‘brutal tortures' and ‘ruthless rule of 21 months’.

“Emergency imposed to quell the voices against one family is a dark chapter in the history of independent India. Salute to the sacrifice of all the countrymen who fought relentlessly for the protection of the Constitution and democracy of the country while suffering the brutal tortures of the ruthless rule for 21 months,” he had said.

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