The Times of India, June 27, 2024
Proceedings of the new Lok Sabha got off on an interesting note with the resurgent Congress finding itself isolated over a motion moved by the newly-elected Speaker to condemn the Emergency clamped by the Indira Gandhi govt to silence protests.
The resolution, marking the “post-facto ratification” by the Indira Gandhi Cabinet of the presidential proclamation issued late night to suspend democracy and civil rights, was supported by Congress’s allies like SP, DMK and TMC, besides, of course, BJP and its allies.
“Dictatorship was imposed on India by Indira Gandhi, India’s democratic values were crushed and freedom of expression was strangled. During that dark period of Emergency, several people lost their lives at the hands of the dictatorial Congress government. Let’s observe two minutes of silence in the memory of those dutiful and patriotic citizens of India,” the resolution read by Speaker Om Birla in Lok Sabha, a few minutes after his re-election, said.
“This House strongly condemns the decision to impose Emergency in the country in 1975. Along with this, we appreciate the determination of all those people who strongly opposed the Emergency, fought an unprecedented struggle and took the responsibility of protecting the democracy of India,” he further said.
The motion, mirroring PM Narendra Modi’s condemnation of the Emergency on the inaugural day of the session, caught Congress unawares, splitting it not just from allies like SP and DMK whose leaders were victims of Emergency’s excesses but also, surprisingly, TMC, a breakaway unit.
When Birla started reading out the resolution that specifically named Indira Gandhi and Congress for the assault on “Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution, illegal arrests, press censorship and other excesses”, only Congress MPs protested from the aisle while the rest of the opposition, including SP and TMC, remained seated. Congress’s allies also joined in the two-minute silence urged by the speaker to express solidarity with the victims of Emergency and to “remind the younger generation” of what happened in the 21 months of the Emergency.
Besides the embarrassment to Congress, the swift move was significant also in that it again indicated BJP’s resolve to pay Congress back in the “Constitution-in-danger” coin that Rahul Gandhi effectively used during the election campaign, as well as its willingness to pick and widen gaps in the INDIA bloc.
“This is the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. It is our collective duty to create awareness about all historic events. Awareness towards the Constitution will only strengthen when the young generation knows about democracy,” Birla said, adding that post-facto ratification of Emergency was done by the cabinet on June 26 fifty years ago.
Endorsing Birla for his resolution on the Emergency, Modi said on X, “I am glad that the speaker strongly condemned the Emergency, highlighted the excesses committed during that time and also mentioned the manner in which democracy was strangled. It was also a wonderful gesture to stand in silence in honour of all those who suffered during those days.”
The PM said Emergency was imposed 50 years ago but it was important for today’s youth to know about it because it remained a fitting example of what happened when the Constitution was trampled, public opinion was stifled and institutions were destroyed.
“The happenings during the Emergency exemplified what a dictatorship looks like,” Modi said, a reassertion of what Birla said in the resolution and seen as a bid to deflate Congress’s “save democracy” campaign.
Later, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju framed the issue as one between those who supported the atrocities during Emergency on the one hand and those who sympathised with those who resisted the “imposition of dictatorship”.
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