Bengaluru, Jun 25 (PTI) Veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday accused the Congress of putting its survival above the soul of India’s democracy by imposing Emergency 50 years ago.
The former Karnataka chief minister recalled that he was a young activist and was jailed for opposing the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s “dictatorship” during the Emergency.
“Today marks 50 years since the darkest assault on Indian democracy – the Congress-imposed Emergency of 1975. Fundamental rights were suspended, the Constitution throttled, Parliament silenced, and the press gagged. It wasn’t war or national crisis, but a desperate attempt by the then PM to cling to power after her disqualification by the Allahabad HC. Congress put its survival above the soul of our democracy,” Yediyurappa said in a post on ‘X’.
Noting that in Karnataka the repression was brutal, and recalling that he was a young activist jailed in Shivamogga and Ballari for opposing PM Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship, he said journalists were arrested, student protests in Davanagere, Raichur, Udupi were crushed, and countless volunteers and farmers were beaten or jailed.
“Senior leaders like Vajpayee, Advani, and George Fernandes were imprisoned in Bengaluru Central Jail for resisting Congress’ draconian move. Karnataka became a battleground of defiance,” he said.
Congress even passed the 42nd Amendment to hijack democracy. But India’s spirit prevailed, and in 1977, the people decisively rejected the Congress, Siddaramaiah said.
“On the Samvidhan Hatya Diwas, we honour every patriot who resisted the Emergency in 1975. Under PM Narendra Modi ji, today we are building a Viksit Bharat rooted in constitutional values. Jai Hind!,” he added. PTI KSU KH
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