"Emergency was dark period in country's history": BJP's Aparajita Sarangi

Speaking to ANI, Aparajita Sarangi said, "The whole country knows that it was a dark period in our country's history. 140 crore people in the country can never forget it. It was the doing of Congress."

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Aparajita Sarangi said that the whole country is aware of the Emergency of 1975 as a dark period in our country's history, adding that 140 crore people in the country can never forget that period. Speaking to ANI, Sarangi said, "The whole country knows that it was a dark period in our country's history. 140 crore people in the country can never forget it. It was the doing of Congress."

"Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister at that time when the freedom of every section of the country was played with. We all are aware of that. Therefore, the BJP will remember June 26 as a Black Day every year. We will remember that day so that the future generations of the country are made aware of those times and such a period does not recur again," she said. This comes President Droupadi Murmu in her address on Thursday described the imposition of Emergency in 1975 as the "biggest and darkest chapter" of a direct attack on the Constitution and said the country emerged victorious over unconstitutional forces.

Opposition leaders on Thursday dismissed the President's address to the joint sitting of Parliament as a "script given by the government" that was "full of lies" and also castigated the government over the repeated mention of the 1975 Emergency. They said there is an "undeclared emergency" in the country and the Constitution is being attacked under the Modi government.

Reacting to the same, BJP MP Arun Govil said, "We can't simply forget what happened in the past. Congress never mentions what they did with the Constitution but only talks about saving the Constitution now." BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad also gave his reaction and said, "It is a matter of pride for us that the President the condemned Emergency period in her address today. Congress talks about saving the Constitution, but has Rahul Gandhi said even word on it till now?"

Earlier on Wednesday, Union Ministers praised Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for his speech on the Emergency and asserted that future generations should be made aware of the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The leaders also criticised Congress for creating a ruckus while the House was condemning the Emergency and questioned whether the party supported it.

In his address to the house on Wednesday, Birla condemned the Congress-led government's decision to impose an emergency in 1975 and the house also maintained a two-minute silence for the people who lost their lives during the period. Even as the newly elected speaker was making his speech, the opposition parties continued sloganeering "Stop Dictatorship". Afterwards, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till June 27.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh asserted that the youth of the country should know about the emergency. Speaking with ANI, Singh said, "The people who talk about protecting the Constitution..., never in the history of India was the Constitution blown up as it was done during an emergency...The youth need to know about the time of emergency..."

The Emergency, which is considered to be one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history, was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from June 25, 1975, to 1977. There were political arrests, mass forced sterilization, and beautification drives, among others during the period.

All key opposition leaders at the time, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, and Jay Prakash Narayanan, among others, were either jailed or placed under detention. (ANI)

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