Emergency imposed to preserve dynastic rule: HM
NEW DELHI, June 25:
With a book chronicling his role in the Emergency being released on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the period was a learning experience for him and reaffirmed the vitality of preserving the democratic framework.
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“The Emergency Diaries – Years that Forged a Leader’, which highlights Modi’s fight for the “the ideals of democracy”, is published by BlueKraft.
Modi said the book chronicles his journey during the Emergency years. It brought back many memories from that time, he said.
He said on X, “I call upon all those who remember those dark days of the Emergency or those whose families suffered during that time to share their experiences on social media. It will create awareness among the youth of the shameful time from 1975 to 1977.”
The Prime Minister recalled that he was a young RSS pracharak during the period.
He said, “The anti-Emergency movement was a learning experience for me. It reaffirmed the vitality of preserving our democratic framework. At the same time, I got to learn so much from people across the political spectrum.”
He added, “I am glad that BlueKraft Digital Foundation has compiled some of those experiences in the form of a book, whose foreword has been penned by HD Deve Gowda, himself a stalwart of the anti-Emergency movement.”
The publisher in a post said the book delves into the compelling role Modi played in the fight against the Emergency.
Based on first person anecdotes from associates who worked with Modi in his youth, and using other archival material, the book is a first of its kind that creates new scholarship on the formative years of a young man who would give it his all in the fight against tyranny, it said.
It added, “Emergency Diaries – paints a vivid picture of Narendra Modi fighting for the ideals of democracy and how he has worked all his life to preserve and promote it.” This book is a tribute to the grit and resolve of those who refused to be silenced, BlueKraft said, and it offers a rare glimpse into the early trials that forged one of the most transformative leaders of our time.
In his comments on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, Modi recalled the suppression of civil liberties, including the arrest of opposition leaders and activists besides the censorship on media, and said it was as if the then Congress Government had put democracy under arrest.
Meanwhile, the Emergency, imposed 50 years ago, by a despotic ruler, whose sole aim was to preserve her dynastic rule, was one of the darkest chapters in India’s history, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.
Shah said the Emergency was not a national necessity but a reflection of the anti-democratic mentality of the Congress and just “one person”, a reference to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Indira Gandhi Government imposed the Emergency on June 25, 1975. The Modi Government observes this day as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’.
“Emergency, imposed 50 years ago, by a despotic ruler, whose sole aim was to preserve her dynastic rule, was one of the darkest chapters in India’s history,” the Home Minister posted on X.
Shah, who was just 11 years old in 1975, said he was a ‘Bal Swayamsevak’ of the RSS then and heard firsthand the excesses and injustices during the dark days of the Emergency.
He said the memories of that time, though blurry, as he was very young then, the suppression, the torture, the blatant assault on democratic values were still vivid in his memories.
“I take immense pride in having been associated with a movement that stood up against this tyranny, and with a leader who fearlessly raised his voice to protect Bharat’s democracy and its Constitution,” he said.
Paying tributes to those who suffered after the imposition of Emergency by the Indira Gandhi Government, Shah said the day reminds everyone that when those in power become dictatorial, the people have the power to overthrow them.
The Home Minister said the Emergency was the “Age of Injustice of Congress’s hunger for power”.
“This day tells us that when power becomes dictatorial, the people have the power to overthrow it,” he said in another post on ‘X’ in Hindi.
“The Emergency was not a national necessity, but a reflection of the “anti-democratic mentality” of the Congress and one person,” the Minister said.
He said freedom of the press was crushed, the hands of the judiciary were tied and social workers were put in jail.
“The countrymen raised the slogan of ‘sinhasan khali karo’ (vacate the throne) and uprooted the dictatorial Congress. A heartfelt tribute to all the heroes who sacrificed their lives in this struggle,” he said. (PTI)
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