Congress chief slams Modi over 10 years of ‘undeclared Emergency’

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept raking up the past to hide his failures. The remarks came as Mr. Modi and BJP leaders attacked the Opposition party for the Emergency in 1975.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s stress on consensus, the Congress chief pointed out the instances when the Modi government took decisions unilaterally.

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“Narendra Modiji, the country is looking forward to the future but you keep scratching the past to hide your failures. In the last 10 years, you made 140 crore Indians realise what ‘undeclared Emergency’ is, which caused a deep trauma to democracy and the Constitution,” Mr. Kharge said in a post on X.

“Breaking parties, toppling elected governments through the backdoor, misuse of agencies like ED, CBI, IT against 95 per cent of Opposition leaders, putting Chief Ministers in jail, and using the official machinery before elections and disturbing the level playing field, is this not undeclared Emergency,” he asked.

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Mr. Kharge’s post was in response to the Prime Minister’s comment on Tuesday that those who imposed the Emergency had no right to profess love for the Constitution.

“Modiji talks of consensus and cooperation but his actions are just the opposite,” the Congress chief said. He asked whether there was consensus when 146 Opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament and three new laws were brought to change the Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Penal Code and Indian Evidence Act.

“Where was the consensus when statues of stalwarts like Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar were relocated within the Parliament complex without even asking the Opposition. Where was this consensus when three new farm laws were forced on 15 crore farmer families and they had to sit on the roads for months together and atrocities were committed on them,” he added.

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The Congress chief also cited demonetisation, the COVID-19 lockdown, and the electoral bonds law as other examples where the government did not strive for consensus.

“The BJP has disregarded democracy and Constitution while the Congress has always stood by democracy and the Constitution and will continue to do so,” Mr. Kharge said.