In observance of the declaration of emergency, the BJP-led central government announced on Friday that June 25 will be celebrated as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas. In observance of the declaration of emergency, the BJP-led central government announced on Friday that June 25 will be celebrated as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.
The government’s notification, released by Home Minister Amit Shah, stated that “a proclamation of emergency was made on June 25th, 1975, following which there was a gross abuse of power by the government of the day and the people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities.”
“Therefore, the government of India declares June 25th as “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of emergency and to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power, in the future,” it stated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move, according to Amit Shah, is meant to pay tribute to the millions of people “who struggled to revive democracy despite facing inexplicable persecution at the hands of an oppressive government.”.
“The observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of our democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing dictatorial forces like the Congress from repeating those horrors,” he wrote on the occasion.
The minister further charged that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had made a blatant demonstration of her authoritarian worldview.
“The then-prime minister Indira Gandhi fatally wounded our democracy on June 25, 1975, when she brazenly displayed her totalitarian mindset by announcing a state of emergency. Millions of individuals were imprisoned without any fault of their own, and the media’s voice was muffled,” he continued.
PM Modi declared on June 25 that anyone who declared an emergency did not have the right to claim to cherish the Constitution. His statement was made the day following the opposition’s demonstration within the Lok Sabha, during which they brandished copies of the Constitution.