Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said that it still believed in the "undemocratic, dictatorial mentality of the Emergency".
At a function here to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Emergency clamped by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, Naqvi called the Congress a "history-sheeter party in throttling the democratic values and Constitutional norms".
"The Congress has failed to overcome the same feudal mentality and motive. There is no change in their mentality even today when they are in opposition. Demolishing parliamentary values, democratic dignity and norms is a part of the Congress culture.
"The killing and oppression of thousands of people fighting for democracy is a truth of the Emergency which shook the soul of India's democratic values," he said.
Naqvi welcomed the government's decision to include the Emergency story in textbooks.
"The way we are told about our freedom struggle in detail, the same way we should be told about Emergency in our text books. This will make people, especially the younger generation, aware of the sacrifices made by pro-democracy activists. It will help in strengthening the democratic and Constitutional values," he said.
The Minister said that idea of "Congress-free India" does not mean making the country free from any particular party, but to make the country "free from the feudal mindset and autocratic thinking which the Congress represents".
--IANS
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