NEW DELHI: On the eve of the 50th anniversary of imposition of Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975, home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said it was an attempt to turn a multi-party democracy into a dictatorship as he hit out at DMK, socialists and others who have joined hands with Congress, saying they were sitting with a party that had “murdered democracy”.Shah justified the Modi govt’s decision to commemorate the day as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’, saying the people should remember how the country suffers terrible consequences when a govt becomes dictatorial.“Emergency was not a product of circumstances and compulsion but of dictatorial mentality and hunger for power. It was the beginning of the conspiracy to convert multi-party democracy into one-party dictatorship. It was the ‘anyaaykaal’ of the then governing party,” Shah said, addressing an event, ’50 Years Since Emergency’.He said June 25 – the day Emergency was imposed – reminded everyone how far Congress could go for power. “It’s difficult to define Emergency in one sentence, but I’ve tried; it was a conspiracy to turn a multi-party democracy into a dictatorship,” he added.Shah said after imposition of Emergency, 1.1 lakh people – opposition members, student activists, journalists and editors – were arrested across the country. Non-Congress govts in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu were dismissed by Indira Gandhi, he added.“Unfortunately, many of those who faced the wrath of Emergency are now aligned with Congress. I want to ask these parties – DMK, Samajwadi (socialists) and others – rather than Congress, what right do you have to ask questions about democracy since you have joined hands with the party which murdered democracy in the country,” he said.“The night before Emergency was the longest night after independence, because its morning came 21 months later, when the country’s democracy was revived again,” he added.“The main reason for Emergency was hunger for power; there was no external threat to the country, nor was there any internal crisis, the threat was only to the chair of the then PM Indira Gandhi,” he said.Shah said India could not accept dictatorship as the country was the birthplace of democracy. Recalling the 1977 Lok Sabha polls, which Congress lost, Shah said, “I remember, from our village, we were in a truck outside The Times of India building watching Lok Sabha results. Around 3-4 am, we heard that Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi both lost. The joy on thousands of faces that night is something I will never forget.”
