Honest people once gathered in Bihar against Emergency, now 'corrupt' assembled there to oppose PM Modi: BJP leader

BJP leader Shiv Prakash on Sunday slammed the opposition parties over their recent meeting, and said honest people had once gathered in Bihar under Jayaprakash Narayan's leadership against the Emergency, while "corrupt" persons now assembled in the same state just to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He was speaking at a programme 'Prabuddh Jan Sammelan Evam MISA Bandi Samman Samaroh' held to mark the 48th anniversary of emergency, organised by the Chhattisgarh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Indira Gandhi-led government had declared a state of emergency in India on June 25, 1975.

Referring to it, Shiv Prakash said India had seen a black day and this Raipur event was aimed at making people aware of the power which brought that day. "Eminent Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan was not happy with the Congress rule and advocated for a social transformation programme - 'Sampoorna Kranti'. Soon after the emergency was declared, he was arrested," he said.

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"There was a time when honest people gathered under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan in Bihar to oppose the national emergency, but now corrupt people assembled just to oppose PM Narendra Modi," the BJP leader added. A total of 17 opposition parties met in Patna on June 23, where they resolved to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly to defeat the BJP and work with flexibility by setting aside their differences. Without naming former PM Indira Gandhi, Shiv Prakash said she could have chosen to resign after the court's decision, but she decided to impose emergency.

A verdict of the Allahabad High Court convicting Indira Gandhi, who was then the prime minister, of electoral malpractices and debarring her from holding any elected post is widely believed to have led to the imposition of emergency. "Congress had used Article 356 for disposing of state governments 90 times and out of them, it was used by Indira Gandhi 50 times," he claimed.

Totalitarianism is in the DNA of the Congress party, he said, claiming that one of its examples is Sonia Gandhi, who without holding any constitutional post had performed the 'bhoomi pujan' of the Chhattisgarh's Legislative Assembly complex. He highlighted the censorship on press imposed during the emergency and the role played by the then information and broadcasting minister, late Vidya Charan Shukla, in it.

Shiv Prakash said on July 4 1975, a total of 56 social organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were banned. "Kishor Kumar's songs, "Aandhi" movie and also films of others from Bollywood who spoke against the emergency were banned. The judiciary was oppressed brutally. Vasectomy of 60 lakh people was done forcibly during the emergency,” he said. Earlier, Chhattisgarh BJP chief Arun Sao described India as the birthplace of democracy and called it the biggest democracy of the world. "The biggest attack on democracy was done by Indira Gandhi and the Congress party. June 25, 1975 was the black day when press freedom, public rights were suppressed," he said. Former CM Raman Singh, former BJP minister Rajesh Munat along with other BJP leaders and MISA arrestees also participated in the program.