June 4 will go down as ‘Modi Mukti Diwas’: Congress
NEW DELHI, July 12: 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.
He also 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”.
A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry notes 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,” says the notification.
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 said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that observing June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will serve as a reminder of what happened when the Constitution was trampled over.He said on ‘X’, “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.” Modi’s post came soon after Home Minister Amit Shah announced commemorating June 25, the day Emergency was declared in 1975, as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to remember the “massive contributions” of those who endured inhuman pains during the period.
Congress slams govt
The Congress on Friday slammed the government’s move to declare June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ as yet another “headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also accused the BJP of insulting Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar by using a word like “murder” with the “sacred word Constitution”.
Taking a swipe at the government over the decision, the opposition party said that from now on, the people of India will observe “Aajivika Hatya Diwas” on November 8, the day demonetisation was announced in 2016.
Kharge alleged the BJP-RSS wants to implement ‘Manusmriti’ by erasing the Constitution so the rights of Dalits, tribals and backward classes can be attacked. (PTI)