President Droupadi Murmu said on Thursday that the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 was the “biggest and darkest chapter” in Indian history and called the move unconstitutional. Addressing a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Murmu said the Emergency was a direct attack on the Constitution. Her mention of the Emergency drew a sharp reaction by the Opposition, which shouted slogans in protest.
Murmu’s address came two days after India marked the 49th anniversary of the Emergency — and it added a new chapter in a raging debate over the 21-month period when several political opponents of the then government were jailed and basic freedoms curbed citing internal and external threats to the country.
On Wednesday, newly elected Speaker Om Birla, too, condemned what he called a “black chapter” in India’s history, in his first speech in the 18th Lok Sabha. “On June 25, 1975,” Birla said, “Then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency and attacked the Constitution made by Babasaheb Ambedkar.” His speech, too, triggered protests by the Congress, whose members shouted slogans in the House.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Birla’s speech and said events during the Emergency were an example of what dictatorship looked like. And on Tuesday, when India marked the anniversary of the Emergency, Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress, which accuses his government of “tanasahi” (dictatorship) and says it is up to the Opposition to save the Constitution. The PM, in his Tuesday post, said the Congress party had “subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution” just “to cling on to power”, and that those “who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution” now.
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