JD(U) decries Lalu's statement on Emergency

Patna, Apr 26 (UNI) The Janata Dal(United) today condemned RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad's statement in which he had reportedly glorified Emergency imposed by the Congress in 1975.

JD(U) national General Secretary and spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari and its state unit president Rajiv Ranjan, alias Lalan Singh, told newspersons here that Mr Prasad's statement about 'handing over' leadership of the 1974 students' movement to Jaiprakash Narain was an open testimony of his 'narrow-mindedness'.

Meanwhile, as Mr Prasad justified imposition of Emergency by describing it as a 'festival of discipline', the JD(U) alleged that it was nothing but a 'gimmick' by him to appease Ms Gandhi.

They said, ''Mr Prasad has forgotten that the people had once taught late Indira Gandhi a lesson when she had imposed Emergency on the nation by defeating her in the elections. The country will never forget and forgive the excesses done on the nation by the then government and Mr Prasads victory in the 1977 elections was an outcome of it.'' They further alleged that Mr Prasad, who opposed the Emergency and became a popular leader during the period, had now taken a U-turn only to register himself in the good books of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and to be established as her 'loyalist' to get rid of the scams.

UNI