'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' on June 25 to mark Emergency: Amit Shah; Cong hits back

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) The government has decided to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' to commemorate the "massive contributions" of those who endured inhuman pains of the period, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Friday.

While the Congress slammed the Centre’s move as yet another "headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the top leadership of the BJP defended the decision, saying it will remind people of the Congress' "dictatorial mindset".

In a counter to the 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas'(Day of Murder of Constitution) declaration, the main opposition party also said "June 4 will go down in history as Modi Mukti Diwas". The Lok Sabha poll results, announced on June 4, saw the BJP with 240 seats falling short of the 272-majority mark but the party-led NDA secured the mandate for a third straight term with 293 seats.

Prime Minister Modi said commemoration of Emergency will serve as a reminder of what happened when the Constitution was trampled over.

"It is also a day to pay homage to each and every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history," he said on 'X'.

Home Minister Shah said the observance of 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of the democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing "dictatorial forces" like the Congress from "repeating those horrors".

"The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.' This day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency." A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry noted that Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, following which there was "gross abuse of power by the government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities".

The people of India have abiding faith in the Constitution and the power of its resilient democracy, it said.

"Therefore, Government of India declares 25th June 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 future," the notification said.

Shah said that on June 25, 1975, then prime minister Indira Gandhi, in a "brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of India's democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation".

Lakhs of people were thrown behind the bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced, he added.

"The decision made by the government led by PM Shri @narendramodi Ji is intended to honour the spirit of millions who struggled to revive democracy despite facing inexplicable persecution at the hands of an oppressive government.” Defence Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh wrote on X, "The circumstances that arose due to the Emergency and the kind of repressive cycle that was carried out then in the history of Indian democracy are still fresh in the memory of the people of the country." In a post on X, Union Minister and BJP chief JP Nadda said June 25, 1975 was the "black day" when the "dictatorial mindset" of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency on the country by "murdering" the democracy enshrined in the Constitution.

Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications), Jairam Ramesh said, "Yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy by the non-biological PM who had imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten long years before the people of India handed him a decisive personal, political, and moral defeat on June 4, 2024 - which will go down in history as Modi Mukti Diwas." Taking a swipe at the Centre’s move, the Congress also said that from now on, every year on November 8, the day when demonetisation was announced in 2016, the people of India will celebrate "Aajivika Hatya Diwas" and a "gazette notification" will also be issued soon.

In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said "Narendra Modi ji, In the last 10 years, your government has marked 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' everyday. You have snatched self-respect from every poor and deprived section of the country every moment.” "When Manipur is in the grip of violence for the last 13 months and you do not even want to step there, then what else is it if not the murder of the Constitution?" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said events associated with Emergency were being seen most during the tenure of Prime Minister Modi. PTI ACB ASK PK KR PR GSN GSN GSN