Emergency: Detention orders of prominent politicians displayed in Delhi exhibition

New Delhi: Several unpublished documents, including the detention orders of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Jan Sangh president Balraj Madhok, among other politicians during the Emergency, were displayed at an exhibition by the Delhi government on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, along with Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, unveiled the exhibition showcasing the documents and materials related to the Emergency imposed on June 25, 1975, by the then-Congress government.

At the event, Gupta took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, stating that those whose ancestors "murdered" democracy now claim to be its "saviours." "There can not be a darker day in the history of the country when the Constitution was strangulated. Now, you (Rahul Gandhi) keep a copy of the Constitution in your pocket and give the call for saving democracy," the chief minister said.

Gupta further asserted that it was hard to forget how scores of political activists were jailed during the Emergency, and their families were left to fend for themselves for 21 months.

Delhi's Art, Culture and Language Minister Kapil Mishra noted that this exhibition showcased records that were, so far, not kept in the public domain.

"These include detention orders of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Balraj Madhok, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, among others. All such government documents that were, so far, not in the public domain have been displayed with the aim that the people do not forget how democracy and the Constitution were murdered during the Emergency," Mishra said.

The BJP has organised various programmes to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency that saw the incarceration of a large number of opposition leaders and the suspension of civil liberties for 21 months.