1975 Emergency: PM Narendra Modi said, "June 25, 1975 was a dark night no Indian will forget"
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today tweeted a montage in honour of the people who resisted the Emergency imposed by former prime minister Indira Gandhi on this day in 1975. "India salutes all those greats who fiercely and fearlessly resisted the Emergency. India's democratic ethos successfully prevailed over an authoritarian mindset," PM Modi said.
In the nearly one-and-a-half minute montage titled 'The Story of Emergency', PM Modi is heard narrating a brief history of the day when rights and freedom of the press were curtailed in the country by Indira Gandhi.
A thematic music plays in the background as PM Modi appears in the video and says, "June 25, 1975 was a dark night that no Indian will forget..."
The montage includes clips of the police arresting people, political leaders in jail and protests on the streets.
BJP working president JP Nadda tweeted the Emergency was a "black blot" on democracy. "In 1975, on this day, democracy was murdered by the Congress party to remain in power. A grateful nation remembers thousands of unsung heroes from Bharatiya Jan Sangh and RSS, who led the anti-Emergency movement from the front," Mr Nadda tweeted.
Home Minister Amit Shah recalled how newspapers were shut and people were deprived of their fundamental rights. "Lakhs of patriots suffered to re-establish democracy in the country. I salute all those soldiers," Mr Shah tweeted.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "This very day 34 years ago India witnessed one of the biggest assault on its democracy with the imposition of emergency by the then Prime Minister. Let us resolve never to allow repetition of subversion of the Constitution of this great democracy."
The Emergency ended in March 1977.
In July last year, the Congress had said Indira Gandhi herself ended the Emergency and apologised for the excesses. "It was Indira Gandhi who lifted the Emergency and ensured free and fair elections. She accepted the verdict of the people with humility and respect in an election in which she herself lost," Congress leader Anand Sharma had said.