Truth of ‘dark phase’ to figure in school, college books: Javadekar

JAIPUR: The infamous Emergency period will soon be a part of school and college curriculum. This will help inculcate values of democracy in younger generation. Besides, youths will also be made aware of the sacrifices people made while defending their democratic rights, said Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar at a press conference here on Tuesday.

He said Emergency was a ‘dark spot’ in independent India’s history and it should never be repeated.

"We will include the whole story of Emergency in the curriculum. Children should know the reality of that time. That is why the Emergency period is considered as the second freedom struggle,” he said.

He said the NCERT books would be revised to include the stories of Emergency and people’s movement against it to uphold liberty and citizens’ rights.

He said that during Emergency, press freedom was curtailed and people were put behind bars just for one person, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, so that she could be in power after the Allahabad High Court cancelled her election to Parliament on June 12, 1975.

“There was no external threat to impose the draconian Emergency which suspended the democratic rights of the people. It was not imposed for public good but for a private purpose,” he said.

‘Tiwari is depressed, desperate’

When asked about the charges by former BJP MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari who accused the party of “maintaining an undeclared Emergency in the country which is more dangerous than declared Emergency” in his resignation letter, Javadekar said, “It is the utterance of a person who has strayed from his path. Tiwari is depressed and desperate. His accusations need not be taken seriously.”

When told about the opposition leaders’ charges that BJP was ‘raking up’ Emergency that occurred four decades back as a tactic to divert people’s attention from the failures of Modi government which promised ‘acche din’, Javadekar said the BJP was able to rein in corruption with the online transfer of benefits of government schemes worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore to the beneficiaries. He claimed that every year, Rs 55,000 crore gets saved because of this. Responding to a question on simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies, he said this would be possible only if there is a political consensus. Replying to the delay in announcing the state party president, he said, “The name will be announced soon.”