Which Emergency is more dangerous: declared or undeclared? BJP, Congress fight over it

On Tuesday, hashtags--#CongressKilledDemocracy promoted by the BJP and #BharatBachao promoted by the Congress--trended on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

New Delhi, June 26: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) observed the 43rd anniversary of the Emergency, imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Congress attacked the saffron party with "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's undeclared Emergency" jibe on Tuesday.

The Emergency, imposed by the former PM on June 25, 1975, was considered as the "darkest period of the Indian democracy" when civil and political rights of every citizen were trampled by the erstwhile Congress government to muzzle any dissent.

The ruling BJP government, which has always attacked the Congress and the Gandhi family for imposing the Emergency, on Monday observed the day as a "Black Day". From BJP president Amit Shah to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, almost all the top leaders of the saffron party slammed the Congress for the 21-month-long Emergency in the country.

On Tuesday, PM Modi in a series of tweets expressed his 'anguish' over the "dark period" and saluted all those who resisted the Emergency.

"India remembers the Emergency as a dark period during which every institution was subverted and an atmosphere of fear was created. Not only people but also ideas and artistic freedom were held hostage to power politics," Modi tweeted.

On Tuesday, hashtags--#CongressKilledDemocracy promoted by the BJP and #BharatBachao promoted by the Congress--trended on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

Here we bring you some tweets to highlight how both the main political rivals in the country fought a war of words over the "declared and undeclared Emergency":

The debate over "declared and undeclared Emergency" was not limited to the Congress and the BJP. Even journalists and historians spoke on the subject.