Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram has publicly acknowledged that the state of Emergency, imposed in 1975, was a mistake, a sentiment that was also echoed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. His comments come in response to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s decision to observe June 25 as “Samvidhan Hatya Diwas” to mark the 50th anniversary of the state of Emergency.
In an interview with ANI, Chidambaram questioned the relevance of revisiting historical events and said, “Why doesn’t the BJP go back to the 18th or 17th century? Seventy-five per cent of Indians alive today were born after 1975. Emergency was a mistake and was accepted by Indira Gandhi. We have amended the Constitution so that emergency cannot be imposed so easily.” He stressed that lessons have been learnt and it is unproductive to debate the pros and cons of emergency five decades later.
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The NDA’s announcement to celebrate ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ has triggered a significant backlash, with opposition parties slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), accused the government of undermining the Constitution on a daily basis for the past decade, stating, “In the last 10 years, your government has celebrated ‘Constitution Murder Day’ every day. You have snatched away the self-respect of every poor and underprivileged section of the country at every turn.”
At a press conference, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh echoed the sentiments of the opposition and accused the BJP of trying to divert public attention from its anti-people policies. The political discourse around the anniversary of the State of Emergency highlights the continued contentiousness of this historic period in India’s political landscape.
