Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 1 : Congress leader Digvijaya Singh expressed his discontent with the Central government marking the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, and said that it has never happened that a central government has made its political agenda the government's agenda.
Digvijaya Singh said, "I have only one objection. Central government officials are writing letters to states and telling them to organise programs against the Emergency for one whole year. It has never happened that a central government has made its political agenda, the government's agenda. This should not happen."
Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday during the 123rd episode of his monthly radio address 'Mann Ki Baat' condemned imposition of Emergency in the country and termed the period as one of the darkest chapters in India's democratic history.
He said that country is observing the 50th anniversary of the Emergency as "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas".
During his address to the nation, he played rare archival audio of former Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Babu Jagjivan Ram and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who described the Emergency as a time of constitutional murder, mass arrests, and the suppression of civil liberties and press freedom.
The Prime Minister asserted that every citizen should remember the ones who fought "bravely" against the Emergency and it also inspires us to stay "vigilant" to "safeguard" the constitution.
PM Modi said, "Morarji Desai describes the Emergency in brief... Not only did those who imposed the Emergency murder democracy, but their intention was to keep the judiciary as their puppet... Under 'MISA', anyone was arrested arbitrarily, people were tortured... Indians refused to compromise on democracy. Finally, people won and the Emergency was lifted. Babu Jagjivan Ram powerfully about this..."
MISA refers to the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).
In the audio clip of Morarji Desai, the former Prime Minister is heard recounting the horrors of the Emergency.
Desai is heard saying in the clip played by PM Modi in his radio address, "When the Emergency was imposed, people were treated inhumanely. Their right to freedom was snatched away, newspapers were silenced, and the judiciary was rendered powerless. Over one lakh people were jailed. Such an arbitrary rule is rare even in world history."