The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) on Tuesday claimed there are many “Emergency situations” in the country at present and the BJP needs to answer them before dwelling into the past.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress on the 49th anniversary of the Emergency.
The saffron party has announced a nationwide programme on the 1975 Emergency to “expose” the Congress` “authoritarianism” and its disregard for the Constitution.
In a post on X, NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto targeted the BJP over the Manipur violence and the alleged NEET paper leak.
“When will the #BJP talk about the Emergency situation in #Manipur where the people are suffering for more than a year. When will the BJP talk about the Emergency situation in our #Education system and their failure in controlling the #NEET paper leaks,” he said.
“When will BJP talk about the Emergency situation on the #Agricultural front in India,” Crasto added.
He claimed the basic demands of farmers in the country were not met.
“When will the BJP talk about the Emergency situation in the #Employment sector where the highest #Unemployment rate has occurred in #India in the past 45 years,” the NCP (SP) leader said.
“There are many such Emergency situations in our country in the present and the BJP needs to answer them, before they dwell into the past,” he said.
On June 25, 1975, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, a Congress stalwart, imposed Emergency in the country, suspending civil liberties, jailing opposition leaders and dissidents and effecting press censorship.
After 21 months, the Emergency was lifted in 1977.
On the 49th anniversary of Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that its dark days are a reminder of how the Congress subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution which every Indian respects greatly.
Hitting out at the main opposition party, he said in posts on X that those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution.
PM Modi said, “These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution.”
“The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same Party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again,” he said.
Just to cling on to power, the then Congress Government disregarded every democratic principle and turned the nation into a jail, PM Modi said, adding that any person who disagreed with the party was tortured and harassed.
(With inputs from Agencies)