Emergency was dictatorship at its worst, even right to live was taken away by Congress: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Congress party as he addressed the Rajya Sabha on the second day of the Winter Session of Parliament.

Recalling the Emergency days, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that during the 1970s, one of the biggest challenges the country faced was the suspension of Article 21, calling it "dictatorship at its worst".

The Finance Minister further said that the right to live and freedom of expression were also taken away during Emergency.

"Today even an irresponsible statement is treated as intolerance and back in 1970s, even the freedom of life was taken away from people by the then government," said Jaitley addressing the Rajya Sabha.

Hitting out at the Congress, he said that people who supported emergency, now talk about constitutionality.

"It is about time that we understand that short term vision in dealing with Constitution is not beneficial. I urge you to ponder as part of transient economic thinking," Jaitley added.

The Union Minister also made reference to Article 356, which talks about imposition of President’s rule, pointing as to "how many times in the first 40 years when there was one party rule in the country was Article 356 imposed," adding that it was only later that everyone recognised the importance and power of the federal structure of the country.