Emergency mindset remains with Congress, says Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the emergency imposed in the country by the Congress in 1975, Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked the opposition party to explain as to why the 'emergency mindset’ still remains among the opposition party leaders.
Shah questioned why the leaders who don’t belong to one dynasty (Gandhi-Nehru) are unable to speak. “As one of India’s opposition parties, Congress needs to ask itself: Why does the Emergency mindset remain? Why are leaders who don’t belong to one dynasty unable to speak up? Why are leaders getting frustrated in Congress? Else, their disconnect with the people will keep widening,” Shah tweeted.

The Home Minister shared a media report as per which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, was upset with some of his own party leaders and complained that “he was not scared of PM Modi but many in the party dodge him.”
Shah said, “During the recent CWC meet, senior members and younger members raised a few issues. But, they were shouted down. A party spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked. The sad truth is- leaders are feeling suffocated in Congress.”
Shah referred to recent sacking of Sanjay Jha as Congress spokesperson. Jha was the Congress spokesperson for several years but was made to face the brunt after raising questions about the way Congress is functioning currently.
Reminiscing the time when the emergency was imposed Shah said, “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 due to efforts of lakhs of people, the emergency was lifted and democracy was restored in India but it remained absent in the Congress.
“The interests of one family prevailed over party interests and national interests. This sorry state of affairs thrives in today’s Congress too!” Shah added.
The BJP Chief JP Nadda said he salutes all those who were made to face atrocities during the emergency time. “I salute all those who fought against the emergency and refused two down despite atrocities being inflicted on them,” Nadda said.
The emergency imposed in 1975 and dominance of the Gandhi-Nehru family in the Congress have been key poll planks of the saffron party, which keeps referring to the two issues in the poll relies and other discourses.
Party has maintained that the current generation should be awakened about the way Congress had imposed the emergency and democratic rights were suspended.