BJP staging drama on Emergency to hide governance failure, undeclared emergency prevails: Kharge

New Delhi: An undeclared emergency prevailed in the country, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged on Wednesday while accusing the BJP of staging a Samvidhan Hatya Diwas "drama" to hide its governance failure.

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his jibes on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, he said a government which has no tolerance and does not allow fraternity and liberty to prosper has no right to lecture others.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan here, Kharge slammed the BJP-RSS and said those who "played no role in the independence of the country, in framing the Constitution, and rejected Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution" are raking up the Emergency, 50 years after it was imposed. The same people are now talking of saving the Constitution, he added.

Slamming Prime Minister Modi, Kharge said the Constitution is in danger because of him and his governance. The Congress chief also alleged that there is no freedom of expression and movement under the Modi government.

"Those (BJP-RSS) people who are talking of Samvidhan bachao are now raking up the Emergency after 50 years. It was something people had forgotten and they are now raking it up," he said.

Kharge said the the BJP-RSS had rejected the Constitution and stated that it did not have our cultural aspects such as elements of the Manusmriti. "They (BJP-RSS) did all this and have now been suddenly enlightened."

According to the Congress chief, the BJP is rattled with the Congress' Samvidhan Bachao Yatra and are therefore raking up the Emergency of 50 years ago. The government marks the Emergency anniversary as Samvidhan Hatyas Diwas, or Constitution Murder Day.

"These people failed in governance and their failure is such that people are concerned over inflation, the government has no answer to unemployment, corruption and economic failure. To hide their lies and failure they have staged this drama," Kharge said.

He said economic inequalities have widened so much that they cannot be bridged.

"You have brought in an undeclared emergency," the Congress president said.

He also slammed the government over its handling of the situation in Manipur.

Earlier, in a scathing attack on the Modi government, the Congress alleged that over the past 11 years, Indian democracy has been under a "systematic and dangerous" five-fold assault that can be best described as "Undeclared Emergency@11".

With the BJP in an all-out attack mode on the Congress on the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency by the then Indira Gandhi government, the Congress launched a counter-offensive and alleged that the government was weakening Parliament and eroding the autonomy of Constitutional bodies.

The Congress' counter offensive came after the prime minister said no Indian will ever forget the manner in which the spirit of the Constitution was violated during the Emergency. He affirmed his government's commitment to strengthening constitutional principles.

In a series of posts on X on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, Modi said it was one of the darkest chapters in India's democratic history.