New Delhi: Describing Emergency as a conspiracy to convert a multi-party democracy into a dictatorship, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday hit out at DMK, socialist leaders and others who have joined hands with the Congress, saying they were sitting with a party that had “murdered democracy”.
Addressing an event “50 Years Since Emergency”, Shah said that June 25 — the day Emergency was imposed — reminds everyone how far the Congress can go for power.
To those questioning the relevance of discussing something that had happened half a century ago, Shah said an event like Emergency, which “murdered the Constitution”, should never be forgotten because such circumstances can come up again, and asserted that the country will never accept dictatorship.
The home minister said after the imposition of Emergency, 1.1 lakh people — opposition leaders, student activists, journalists, and editors — were arrested across the country.
Subsequently, non-Congress governments in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu were dismissed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he said.
“Unfortunately, many of those who faced the wrath of the Emergency, are now aligned with the Congress party.
“I want to ask these parties DMK, samajwadi (socialists) and others, rather than the Congress, what right do you have to ask questions about democracy since you have joined hands with the party which murdered democracy in the country,” he said.
Shah said India can’t accept dictatorship as this country is the birthplace of democracy.
“No one except a small coterie surrounding the tyrant liked Emergency. That is why when Emergency was lifted, the people of India elected the country’s first non-Congress government (at the Centre),” he said.
Sharing his personal experience, the home minister said he was just 11 years old when the Emergency was imposed and 184 people from his village in Gujarat were arrested and lodged at the Sabarmati jail.
