'Intended to keep judiciary enslaved': PM Modi recalls imposition of Emergency in Mann ki Baat; plays archival audios of Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
PM Modi
NEW DELHI:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on Sunday recalled the Emergency imposed 50 years ago, calling it one of the darkest chapters in India's democratic history in his monthly
Mann ki Baat
address.
Referring to the Emergency imposed in 1975, PM Modi said, "Those who imposed Emergency not only murdered the spirit of the Constitution but also tried to suppress the judiciary as puppets.
"
He said the country marked 50 years since the Emergency was imposed a few days ago and observed it as 'Samvidhan Hatya Divas'. "We must remember those who bravely fought against Emergency. This inspires us to remain vigilant to safeguard our Constitution," he said.
During the address, the Prime Minister also played archival audio recordings of speeches by leaders such as Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Jagjivan Ram, who had recounted the atrocities faced by people during the Emergency period.
The Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, and lasted 21 months until March 1977. It was marked by the suspension of civil liberties, press censorship, and widespread arrests of political leaders.
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Dear Express Reader, This has been a week of commemoration of the Emergency as a cataclysmic event in the distant past. This has been a week to acknowledge that the shadows cast by the suspension of democracy, 1975-1977, are long. Many of the challenges for a democratic politics are the same, and they have been routinised — the weaponisation of laws to shrink spaces for dissent and free expression, a politics of labelling and distrust, attempts by the Executive to undermine and subdue other institutions like the Media and the Court, demonisation of the Opposition. Other challenges are new, because in its long journey, democracy itself stands at a different milestone. 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