a day ago
Congress wants the people to forget about the Emergency: Pralhad Joshi
The Congress party wants the people to forget about the 1975 Emergency and is misleading the people by saying that the nation is facing an undeclared emergency now, Union Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said here on Sunday.
Mr. Joshi was addressing a seminar organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here as part of a nationwide campaign organised in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. 'After such a long gap, they want the people to forget about the Emergency. But in the interests of democracy and the country, the people should not be allowed to forget it,' he said.
According to him, the credit for putting up a strong fight against the Emergency went to the Jan Sangh, RSS and the ABVP. The Communist parties did not put up a fight. Neither the Congress nor the Congress has shown 'an iota' of respect to B.R. Ambedkar, who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution.
The BJP campaign is designed to make the people more vigilant and to make sure that the Constitution is not tampered with again, Mr. Joshi said. Almost 50% of the Constitution was changed within the 21 months of the Emergency. Even today, the Congress, which was responsible for the Emergency and continues to pursue dynastic politics, is not democratic. The Emergency was never a Constitutional necessity, but a political conspiracy deisgned to keep Indira Gandhi in power, he said.
Mr. Joshi also sought to counter Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's remark that V.D. Savarkar was responsible for the Lok Sabha poll defeat of B.R. Ambedkar. Jawaharlal Nehru had visited the constituency twice to campaign for Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar, who defeated Ambedkar, he said.
BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, senior BJP leaders V. Muraleedharan and P.K. Krishnadas, Minority Morcha national vice president Abdul Salam were among those present.
Mr. Joshi also released the book 'Emergency Diaries - Years that Forged a Leader ' at the function by handing over a copy to Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
