Congress lashes out at PM Modi for 1975 Emergency remark in 'Mann Ki Baat'

The Congress party on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks on the 1975 Emergency made during his monthly address to the nation through his radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' on June 25.

Calling the period of Emergency a "dark phase" in India, PM Modi said: "Those who love democracy can never forget the dark night of June 25, 1975, when the entire nation turned into a prison, all voices of dissent were muzzled, where senior leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan were imprisoned. Not even the judiciary was spared from the shadow of authoritarianism."

Referring to the CBI raids on NDTV co-founder Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy, senior Congress leader and national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan lashed out at Modi saying: "Yes, we have not forgotten Emergency, but there is an undeclared emergency in the country. The fact is that there is a muzzling of the media and the raids on media which can only be listed as an undeclared emergency."

Vadakkan also accused the PM of failing to address the nation's internal and external security issues.

"The Prime Minister raised various issues in his ' Mann Ki Baat', but I wish issues of internal security also would have been raised. Internal security in this country is under jeopardy, why? This broad shoulder government said they will put it in order. This is for the first time that internal and outer security are running parallel simply for reason when there is firing and incursion is coming in from Pakistan and terrorist and separatist are actively engaged inside the country," the senior Congress leader said.

Vadakkan also spoke about the situation in Kashmir saying: "The so-called separatists have grown up to be terrorists in the Valley. We have a situation where counterfeit currency is being printed and the case of lynching mobs and romeo squads are emerging. What are they?"

On his radio programme, Modi said the "Emergency will be remembered for the way in which people of India came together and safeguarded democratic values. Democracy is not only a system, but also our ethos as-'Eternal vigilance is the life of liberty'. We need to remember the things which harm democracy and move forward in a positive direction."

He urged political activists and journalism students to "remind themselves of this dark phase". PM Modi said: "Newspapers were rendered ineffective, students of journalism and political activities must continuously remind themselves of this dark phase. They must work towards creating awareness about democracy. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also imprisoned during this period. When he completed one year in prison, he wrote a poem describing his feelings."