Cruelty of govt during Emergency parallelled Sultanate, Mughal eras: Delhi LG

New Delhi, June 25 (PTI) The Emergency imposed in the country parallelled the "cruelty" of the Sultanate, Mughal and British eras, Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena said on Wednesday.

Speaking at an event at Thyagraj stadium to mark the 50th anniversary of Emergency imposition in the country, Saxena said it has now become a "fashion" to carry a copy of the Constitution and talk about constitutionality.

"We need to first understand the soul and the culture of India enshrined in the Constitution. If we achieve this, we would not require to wave the copy of the Constitution," the LG said in an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Save Democracy' call.

Not only the democracy and civil rights were "brutally trampled" by the imposition of Emergency but the Constitution was also "murdered", Saxena said.

"In the next two years, the country witnessed the cruel face of a government intoxicated by an autocratic power that paralleled the cruelty of the Sultanate, Mughal and British era rulers," he said.

The Delhi LG said that had the people holding high places of power lived up to their oath to safeguard democracy, the of Emergency in the country would have been avoided.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also attended the event 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' organised by the Ministry of Culture.

Speaking at the event, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that those carrying a copy of the Constitution should remember that democracy was "murdered' on June 25, 1975. "Entire India was converted into a jail and the rights of the people were curtailed while the media was silenced," she said.

The then prime minister put the whole country at stake just to protect her power, Gupta charged.

She said that everyone needs to take a pledge to work for ensuring the Constitution never faces any danger in the future and there are no dark days for democracy in the country. PTI VIT VIT MNK MNK