PM Modi Says Emergency Shows How Congress Snatched Freedom; #BlackDay Trends On Internet

June 25, 2024 marked the 49th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is observing a black day today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the day shows how Congress snatched everyone's basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution.

"Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India which every Indian respects greatly," he wrote on X.

His statement came a day after Congress marked their protest against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government when Opposition's INDIA Bloc MPs entered the house holding copies of the constitution.

Addressing the media outside the Lok Sabha, PM said, "Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution."

"The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same Party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again," he added.

PM was hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as he is the grandson of former PM Indira Gandhi who imposed the Emergency on the same day in 1975. During this period, all civil rights were suspended and several big non-Congress leaders were put behind bars.

PM Modi said the then Congress government had disregarded "every democratic principle and made the nation a jail".

Since morning, #BlackDay has been trending on the internet as people including BJP leaders have been sharing their thoughts on emergency.