New Delhi [India], June 25 : Union Minister SP Singh Baghel on Wednesday slammed the Congress and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for imposing the emergency 50 years ago, calling it a "blot on Indian democracy" adding that he feels ashamed to call India a mother of democracy because of the "actions of one person."
"When we say that India is the mother of democracy, anyone can stop us and point out that there is this 21-month black blot on your country. There was no internal crisis or external crisis, but only a constitutional crisis that Indira Gandhi's election was declared void, so that one person can save their seat by imposing an emergency and sending the entire opposition to jail," Baghel told ANI here.
Talking about the rights of people being curtailed and press freedom being clamped down on, he added, "Democracy has been going on for a long time in our country, but due to the actions of Indira Gandhi, this is a black blot on India for which I feel ashamed. The rights of people were curtailed, the structure of the Constitution was changed..."
Earlier today, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed imposition of Emergency as the "biggest blot" in the history of Independent India.
Lashing out at the Congress party, Chouhan stated that the countrymen should take a "pledge" that such a day would not come again in India.
"Can those days be forgotten? The country will never forget that the day is the biggest blot in the democratic history of independent India - Samvidhan Hatya Diwas. The country should take a pledge that this day should not come again", Chouhan told ANI.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is observing the 50th anniversary of the Emergency as the 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas'. India was placed under a state of Emergency from June 25, 1975, to March 21 1977, following the implementation of Article 352 of the constitution.