The Bharatiya Janata Party on June 27 criticised the Congress for objecting to the condemnation of Emergency in a resolution read out by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the House on Wednesday.
BJP MP and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the main Opposition party’s invocation of the Constitution was just a pretence. “It irks the Congress whenever the issue of Emergency is raised... Why shouldn’t it be discussed even though 50 years have passed?” he asked, adding that citizens needed to be informed about it.
Editorial | Lip service: On the Emergency and government’s actions
He said during the Emergency, then Opposition leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh, Nitish Kumar, and Ram Vilas Paswan were jailed and activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were tortured. Journalist Kuldeep Nayar was sent to prison and censorship was imposed on the press. The then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu was dismissed, he said, adding: “The Congress continues to carry this sin.”