Mumbai, June 25 (IANS) Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Wednesday said that former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s decision to impose Emergency was constitutional but wondered about the undeclared Emergency going on in the country for the last 11 years.

At a press conference here, Sapkal criticised the BJP, saying: "The decision to impose Emergency in 1975 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was constitutional. Certain forces were attempting to create chaos in the country. Later, the Emergency was lifted, elections were held, and democratic processes were restored.

"During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi didn’t sell the country’s assets or hand over public sector enterprises to industrialists. But for the past 11 years, there has been an undeclared Emergency in the country. Airports, ports, mines, banks, and government lands are being sold off to favoured industrialists. Today, dictatorship prevails, and the BJP’s insatiable hunger for power is threatening democracy," he added.

He further claimed that the BJP government has splurged crores on advertisements around the Emergency. In these government ads, the national emblem is missing, replaced by the Sengol.

"There's no need to elaborate what Sengol symbolises. The BJP wants to dismantle democracy and the Constitution and implement Golwalkar’s 'Bunch of Thoughts'," alleged Sapkal.

He further said: "Due to then-prevailing circumstances in the country, Indira Gandhi had to make the decision to impose the Emergency. Later, she, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi admitted that certain administrative errors occurred during that time. But the BJP continues to raise a hue and cry about it."

As the nation observed 50 years of Emergency, imposed on June 25, 1975, the Union Cabinet passed a resolution on Wednesday to remember the individuals who resisted the subversion of democracy and the Indian Constitution by the then Indira Gandhi dispensation.

The Union Cabinet also observed a two-minute silence for those who made sacrifices while fighting the Emergency and were subjected to unimaginable horrors by the then-autocratic government.

“The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, resolved to commemorate and honour the sacrifices of countless individuals who valiantly resisted the Emergency and its attempt at subversion of the spirit of Indian Constitution, a subversion which began in 1974 with a heavy-handed attempt at crushing the Navnirman Andolan and Sampoorna Kranti Abhiyan,” a government statement read.

The passage of the resolution by the Cabinet comes amidst an intense war of words between the BJP and the Congress party over the Emergency. BJP has announced to observe the 50 years of Emergency as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ while Congress is calling it an eyewash to hide the ruling party's own guilt.

“BJP is deliberately doing this type of drama only because of our constant Samvidhan Bachao campaign, as they have a guilty conscience,” Congress leader K.C. Venugopal said while accusing the government of imposing ‘undeclared Emergency’ for the past 11 years.

Further, briefing the media about the Cabinet resolution on Emergency, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the two-minute silence was a tribute to those who were then subjected to unimaginable horrors during the darkest hour of Indian democracy.

“The Union Cabinet paid tributes to their exemplary courage and valiant resistance to the Emergency's excesses,” he stated.

--IANS

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