From Munich to Mann Ki Baat: Modi attacks Emergency

Addressing Indians on foreign soil as well as at home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dubbed the Emergency as the "black spot" as he lauded the vibrant history of India's democracy.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Munich where Modi is scheduled to attend the G7 summit, Modi said, "Today is June 26 which is also known for the day when India's democracy, that is in the DNA of every Indian, was trampled and suppressed 47 years ago. Emergency was a black spot on the vibrant history of India's democracy."

In his radio address Mann Ki Baat for the countrymen, the Prime Minister called the Emergency, which was imposed in 1975 by Indira Gandhi, a "dark chapter in India's history". Modi's Twitter handle said, "Today’s #MannKiBaat was held on a day the shameful Emergency came into being in 1975."

Also read | Attempts were made to crush democracy during Emergency: PM Modi

The Prime Minister lauded India’s inherent democratic spirit which ensured the Emergency was short-lived and democracy triumphed. He also applauded all those who resisted the Emergency and said that it was our democratic mindset that eventually prevailed.

CPI-M Rajya Sabha MP A A Rahim meanwhile targeting the Modi dispensation said, "47 years since Indira Gandhi's declaration of #Emergency throttled Indian democracy. Today we are struggling to protect Indian democracy against an even worse undeclared emergency under the Hindutva project of BJP-RSS with the #Constitution itself being bulldozed."

In his radio broadcast, Modi recalled all rights were "snatched away" during the Emergency imposed by the then Indira Gandhi-led government.

“It was the month of June when an emergency was imposed. In that, all the rights were taken away from the citizens of the country. One amongst those rights was the 'Right to Life and Personal Liberty' provided to all Indians under Article 21 of the Constitution. At that time an attempt was made to crush the democracy of India. The country's courts, every constitutional institution, the press, were put under control,” the PM said.

Emergency was announced in the country on June 25, 1975, when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister and was lifted on March 21, 1977.

“But even after many attempts, thousands of arrests, and atrocities on lakhs of people, the faith of the people of India in democracy did not shake… not at all! For us, the people of India, the sanskars of democracy which we have been carrying on for centuries; the democratic spirit which is in our veins, finally won. The people of India got rid of the emergency and re-established democracy in a democratic way. It is difficult to find such an example of defeating a dictatorial mindset, a dictatorial tendency in a democratic way, in the whole world,” he said.