The BJP-led Union government has announced that it will observe June 25 – the day prime minister Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in 1975 – as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas, which translates to ‘murder of the Constitution’.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement on Friday, July 12 that Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas will be commemorated in order to “Remind us of the immense contribution of all those people who suffered the inhuman pain of the Emergency of 1975.” The Ministry of Home Affairs has also issued a gazette notification to this effect.
The notification added that Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas will be observed “to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency and to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power, in future.”
Amit Shah said, “On 25 June 1975, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, showing her dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of Indian democracy by imposing Emergency in the country. Lakhs of people were jailed without any reason and the voice of the media was suppressed.”
The Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi lasted for 21 months from June 25, 1975 to March 21, 1977.
In June this year, the Karnataka BJP unit staged a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru condemning the Emergency and demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi.
Also read: The Emergency and the Sangh Parivar’s tacit support to Indira Gandhi