Govt to observe June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to commemorate Emergency

New Delhi: The government has decided to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to commemorate the “massive contributions” of those who endured inhuman pains of the period, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Friday.

He also said the observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of the democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing “dictatorial forces” like the Congress from “repeating those horrors”.

A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry notes that Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, following which there was “gross abuse of power by the government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities”.

The post further said that “the Government of India has decided to observe 25 June every year as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’, to remind us of the immense contribution of all those people who suffered the inhuman pain of the Emergency of 1975.”

Last month, addressing a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, President Droupadi Murmu spoke on various topics, including the raging paper leak controversies and the period of Emergency. While stressing the government’s unwavering faith in the Constitution and efforts to make it a part of “public consciousness”, the President invoked the Emergency of 1975, calling it “the biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution.”

Soon after taking charge, Lok Sbha Speaker Om Brila read out a resolution condemning the imposition of Emergency on the night of June 25-26, 1975, calling out the Congress and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for its atrocities. Birla said in his statement, “This House condemns the decision to impose the Emergency in 1975. We also appreciate the resolve of those who opposed the Emergency with all their might and fulfilled the responsibility of protecting India’s democracy. The Congress trampled upon the spirit of the constitution. It imposed dictatorship in 1975. People bore the brunt of draconian policies. The Emergency is a blot on our history.”

The Emergency refers to the period from June 25, 1975 to March 21, 1977, during which the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used special provisions in the Constitution to impose sweeping executive and legislative consequences on the country.

On June 25 this year, India entered the fiftieth year of the imposition of the Emergency, which saw the suspension of civil liberties, curtailment of press freedom, mass arrests, the cancellation of elections, and rule by decree.