BJP, Congress in war of words on Emergency anniversary

The Congress continues to suffer from the 'Emergency mindset" and puts interests of a family above those of the party and the nation, the BJP said on Thursday, drawing a sharp retort from the opposition party which claimed the saffron party runs a government of two people with all others as mere "sidekicks".

The Congress continues to suffer from the 'Emergency mindset" and puts interests of a family above those of the party and the nation, the BJP said on Thursday, drawing a sharp retort from the opposition party which claimed the saffron party runs a government of two people with all others as mere "sidekicks". The two parties traded barbs on the 45th anniversary of Emergency, with Home Minister Amit Shah launching a frontal assault on the Gandhi family of the Congress, saying "the interests of one family prevailed over party's interests and national interests, and this sorry state of affairs thrives in today's Congress too!".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has often slammed the Congress for the Emergency, on Thursday paid his tributes to people who fought against it but did not directly attack the opposition party. Shah was joined by several senior BJP leaders, including party president J P Nadda and Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad, in attacking the Congress. Shah said the "Emergency mindset" still remained in the Congress and that the "sad truth" was that leaders were feeling suffocated in the party. "On this day, 45 years ago one family's greed for power led to the imposition of the Emergency. Overnight the nation was turned into a prison. The press, courts, free speech... all were trampled over. Atrocities were committed on the poor and downtrodden," he said in his tweets. Hitting back at Shah, the Congress asked why the BJP-led Centre that runs a "majoritarian rule" is described as a "government of two people". Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the country's ruling party needs to answer, "Why is horse trading, mass defections and institution capture its only legacy? Why is it obsessed in its vile hatred of Nehru-Gandhi's (sic)." Why is its majoritarian rule described as a government of two people only and all others as sidekicks, he added. In his attack, Shah referred to the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting and said many members raised a few issues but they were shouted down. He said a Congress spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Javadekar said the conduct of the Congress even now is to save "one family". "I wonder, those who killed democracy 45 years ago are questioning the government today. The party that suppressed the entire system, ended the freedom of all and jailed scores of people, particularly from the opposition, is now raising slogans of freedom," he asked.

Such politics will not work, Javadekar said. Lambasting the Congress, Nadda said its government in 1975 imposed Emergency for selfish political reasons and jailed its rivals, suspended people's fundamental rights and muzzled media. He offered his tributes to people who fought against it successfully while suffering atrocities from the then government.

Union minister Prasad said let the new generations draw the right lessons from Emergency, as he attacked the Congress for its "grossly undemocratic" behaviour which he claimed still continues. In a series of tweets, he said today is the day "to recall the heroic sacrifices of people of India against the grossly undemocratic behaviour of the Congress party".

Lashing out at Shah for targeting the Congress, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that Modi and Shah have "high-jacked" the BJP and NDA government with no space left for other leaders. He said apart from three to four ministers, the public does not even know who all are there in the Modi's cabinet. "It has merely been six years of the BJP and we can see how they have dismantled the democratic, ethnic and social fabric of this nation. May we know why there is no one beyond Modi-Shah in the BJP," he said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today was the "blackest day" in Indian history as the political greed of a family had resulted in the shackling of democratic values..