‘No Point In Debating The Past, Indira Gandhi Accepted Her Mistake’: Chidambaram On ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’
Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday slammed the BJP-led Central government over its decision to observe June 25 as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’, asserting that the 1975 Emergency was a mistake which was duly accepted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Chidambaram said the Congress amended the Constitution after the emergency and put in safeguards to ensure that such a thing would not be easily possible in the future.
“Why is the BJP not going back to the 18th or 17th century? 75 percent of the Indians living today were born after 1975. Emergency was a mistake and it was accepted by Indira Gandhi. We have amended the Constitution so that an emergency cannot be imposed so easily,” the veteran Congress leader said.
‘What’s the point’
Chidambaram’s remarks came two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that June 25 will be observed as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to mark the 50th anniversary of Emergency.
Reacting to the declaration, Chidambaram questioned the motive behind debating over the rights and wrongs of the emergency 50 years later, while stressing that ‘lessons have been learned from the past’.
“What is the point of debating the rights and wrongs of the emergency 50 years later? The BJP must forget the past. We have learned the lessons from the past,” the Rajya Sabha MP stated.
Political slugfest over ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’
On Friday, the BJP-led NDA government declared June 25 as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ to mark the anniversary of the 1975 emergency, triggering a political slugfest between the ruling dispensation and the opposition parties led by the Congress, who have claimed that the saffron party was obsessed with living in the past, rather than looking towards the future.
“In the last 10 years, your government has celebrated “Constitution Murder Day” every day. You have snatched away the self-respect of every poor and deprived section of the country every moment,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Congress’ INDIA Bloc ally Trinamool Congress (TMC) termed the announcement as a mere ploy by the BJP to divert attention from its anti-people policy.
“She has been criticised. Indira Gandhi lost once and she came back to power as the Prime Minister. So that chapter was just one page of history and years later, the BJP is trying to divert attention from its anti-people policy, disasters and the bad condition of the country, they are trying to play this old card,” TMC leader Kunal Ghosh told reporters at a presser.
(With ANI inputs)
