40 years of one of India's 'darkest periods', PM on Emergency

June 25, 2015 | 03:15 PM | 1 Views
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Narendra Modi on Thursday marked the 40th anniversary of the Emergency a 21 month period of rule by decree and curbs on civil liberties in India under Indira Gandhi saying it was “one of the darkest periods” in the country’s history. Elections were suspended, many of Mrs. Gandhi’s political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored during that period from June 1975 to March 1977. Mrs. Gandhi cited domestic and foreign threats to her Congress-led government to justify the national state of emergency. “A vibrant liberal democracy is the key to progress. Let us do everything possible to further strengthen our democratic ideals and ethos,” a tweet from Mr. Modi’s verified account said on Thursday. Mr. Modi praised the hundreds of thousands of people who protested against the crackdown at the time saying they acted to protect their democracy and freedom. “As youngsters, we learnt a lot during the anti-emergency movement,” another message from Mr. Modi’s Twitter account said, referring to the protests led by social reformer and political leader Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP in India. His rhetoric marks a shift from that of another senior leader in his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. L.K Advani, a former head of the BJP, recently created ripples in political circles by saying that the Emergency could happen again in India. In an interview with media, Mr. Advani was quoted as saying that he didn’t think anything had been done since the 1975-77 Emergency period to convince him that civil liberties won’t be suspended or destroyed again. “Of course, no one can do it easily… But that it cannot happen again I will not say that. It could be that fundamental liberties are curtailed again.”

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