New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday was miffed over a resolution passed in the Lok Sabha against the 1975 Emergency and said that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been forced to take the drastic step as she was faced with highly provocative circumstances.
The Congress also questioned the timing of the resolution brought in by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government just two days after the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha started on June 24.
"Nobody would ever say that the Emergency was good. The debate around the controversial move of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is still going on. Many people believe that she had been forced to take the drastic step under highly provocative circumstances and that the move was needed," Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Harish Rawat told ETV Bharat.
"Indira Gandhi had to opt for Emergency as then opposition leader Jayaprakash Narayan popularly known as JP and others had launched a strong students-led movement against her government. Also, at a public rally in Delhi held days before the move was taken, JP had urged the Army and the Police to defy the orders of the Centre. I think giving such a call was a threat not only to an elected government but also to the democratic system,” he said.
According to Rawat, a former Union minister and a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, if the former Prime Minister ordered a drastic move, she was also the one to end it, despite the huge political risk involved.
“As soon as she realised that the Emergency was being misused by sections of the establishment, she ordered fresh national elections to be held in 1977. She was advised against holding the elections and warned that she may lose badly but Indira Gandhi was determined to bring the democratic process back," said Rawat.
Harish Rawat also questioned the timing of Speaker Om Birla's resolution. "I wonder if the resolution was needed at all on a day when a new Speaker was elected and both sides were talking about how to cooperate and run the Parliament smoothly. It seems the government is still in a mood for confrontation and would not change its style of functioning even after a reduced strength in the Lok Sabha," added Rawat.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to seek 400 seats during the Lok Sabha poll campaign to change the Constitution but the people gave him only 240 seats, 32 less than the simple majority. That should have been a lesson in itself," quipped Rawat.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Tariq Anwar noted that PM Modi talked about "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" but unleashed an undeclared emergency over the past 10 years of his government and was not ready to take everyone along in his third term.
"By getting the Speaker to pass a resolution on his first day in office, the government has sent a message that it still believes in the politics of confrontation while talking about 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. The Emergency declared in 1975 had been done under the provisions of the Constitution and the move was approved by the Parliament but what about the undeclared emergency that we have been flagging since 2014. Who is responsible for that," asked Tariq Anwar.
According to the Lok Sabha MP, the ruling NDA was trying to create a controversy and defame the Congress as it had nothing much to talk about its achievements.
"They just want to rake up old controversies. They bring up the Emergency issue every year around this time but it has no relevance for people today. People today want solutions to their everyday problems like jobs and high prices. It seems the NDA is nervous over the strength that the Congress-led INDIA bloc has achieved in the new House. Such attempts to discredit the Congress will have no impact. The NDA will get a befitting response in the House,” Anwar added.
