New Delhi [India], June 29 : 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."
Further, PM Modi said that in people should listen to what PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee said about the Emergency in his own distinctive style.
"Sisters and brothers, whatever happened in the country cannot be called just an election. A peaceful revolution has taken place. The wave of people's power has thrown the killers of democracy into the dustbin of history" Vajpayee is heard saying in the audio clip.
PM Modi said that people of India triumphed and the Emergency was lifted, and those who imposed it were defeated. "Babu Jagjivan Ram ji had strongly voiced his views on this," PM Modi said.
In the audio clip that was played out on the Mann Ki Baat programme, the former PM Jagjivan Ram is heard saying, "Sisters and Brothers, the last election was not an election. It was a great campaign of the people of India... To change the circumstances of that time... to turn the tide of dictatorship and to strengthen the foundation of democracy in India."
Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the recent celebrations on the International Yoga Day in which lakhs of people participated from all walks of life. He also spoke on other topics like health, religious pilgrimage and eliminating eye disease among others.