Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday announced that June 25, the day the Emergency was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, would henceforth be observed as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’. In a post on X, Amit Shah said the day would commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the “inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency”. On June 25, 1975, the then PM Indira Gandhi, in a brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of our democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation. Lakhs of people were thrown behind bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced. The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’,” Shah tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also re-tweeted Amit Shah’s post, saying Congress unleashed a dark phase of Indian history on June 25, 1975. “To observe 25th June as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas will serve as a reminder of what happens when the Constitution of India was trampled over,” PM Modi said. The development comes as the BJP-led NDA mounted an offensive against the Congress on the 49th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency. The move is being seen as a counter to the opposition’s narrative that the BJP was subverting the Constitution. The imposition of the Emergency, lasting for nearly two years — from June 1975 to March 1977, saw a brutal crackdown on opposition leaders and the freedom of the press.
CONGRESS COUNTERS WITH ‘MODI MUKTI DIWAS’ JIBE
Singed over the move, the Congress said June 4 would go down in history as “Modi Mukti Diwas”. The Lok Sabha election results were announced on June 4 in which the BJP received a reduced mandate but formed the government for a third term with help from its allies. Countering Amit Shah, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said there was an “undeclared Emergency” in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”Yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy by the non-biological PM who had imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten-long years before the people of India handed him a decisive personal, political, and moral defeat on June 4, 2024 – which will go down in history as Modi Mukti Diwas,” Ramesh tweeted. “This is a non-biological PM who has subjected the Constitution of India and its principles, values, and institutions to systematic assault. This is a non-biological PM whose ideological parivar had rejected the Constitution of India in November 1949 on the grounds that it did not derive inspiration from Manusmriti. This is a non-biological PM for whom democracy means only demo-kursi,” the Congress communications in-charge said.
