Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying tribute to Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan on his 113 birth anniversary.
Emergency was the biggest blow to democracy, but it was also a time when "a new political generation was born," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today while paying a tribute to Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan on his 113 birth anniversary.
"We need not cry while remembering Emergency. Let's talk about how the anti-Emergency movement strengthened democracy," the Prime Minister said. "It is necessary to learn from Emergency and strengthen our democracy. This is the need of the hour."
The political generation born during the Emergency was fully dedicated to democratic values, the Prime Minister said. "Leadership born during Emergency was not one for TV screens. It was a leadership to live and die for the Nation."
In this context, he named party veteran LK Advani and ally Parkash Singh Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal, both of whom, he said, had served time in jail during Emergency. On the occasion, he felicitated many of those who fought against Emergency and went to jail in 1975-76.
Mr Badal, PM Modi said, could be called the Nelson Mandela of India, having spent nearly two decades in jail "only because of political differences".
"The biggest message that came out of the anti-Emergency struggle was the inspiration to fight repression," the PM said, "The JP Movement, Navnirman Movement, Emergency...they gave birth to a new kind of politics in the nation."
Earlier, the Prime Minister also visited the residences of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former NDA Convenor George Fernandes, who had played a significant role in the fight for democracy in those days.
Apart from Mr Advani, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Subramaniyan Swamy, those felicitated at the function today included four Governors -- Kalyan Singh, O P Kohli, Balram Dass Tandon and Valubhai Vala -- and former Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda.