NEW DELHI, June 25 - On the 43rd anniversary of Emergency today, top BJP leaders flayed the Congress with Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing it as a �direct attack on our Constitutional ideals� and his Cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley likening erstwhile Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Hitler.
BJP president Amit Shah said the Congress had �murdered� democracy for its political interests merely to remain in power as it reduced the Supreme Court to a mute spectator, made Parliament passive and silenced the media.
�It was a black day in Indian democracy,� Shah said.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi wrote in a blog that the Emergency, which was imposed in 1975, was the �biggest blot� on the Indian democracy and said a chapter on it should be included in the textbooks to educate younger generations about the �atrocities� committed during the period.
Modi mentioned about the Emergency as he posted on Twitter two posts written by Jaitley on it.
�Shri Arun Jaitley writes about the dark days of the Emergency, the trampling of personal liberties, excesses committed and how the Emergency was a direct attack on our Constitutional ideals,� the Prime Minister tweeted.
He is scheduled to address a BJP event in Mumbai tomorrow in which he is expected to express gratitude towards those who fought against the Emergency and dwell upon conserving the democratic values.
Jaitley today came out with the second instalment of his posts on the Emergency .
Drawing a parallel between German dictator Adolf Hitler and Indira Gandhi, Jaitley today said both turned democracy into dictatorship and wondered if Gandhi�s decision was inspired by the Nazi Germany.
Jaitley said unlike Hitler, Gandhi went a step ahead by endeavouring to transform India into a �dynastic democracy.�
In his Facebook post, the minister wondered if the script of Emergency, which was imposed more than 4 decades ago on June 25, 1975, was inspired by what had happened in Nazi Germany in 1933.
�Both Hitler and Mrs Gandhi never abrogated the Constitution. They used a republican Constitution to transform democracy into dictatorship,� Jaitley wrote in the second part of his write up, subtitled �The Tyranny of Emergency.�
He said there were quite a few things which Hitler did not do, but Gandhi did.
�She prohibited the publication of Parliamentary proceeding in the media... Unlike Hitler, Mrs Gandhi went ahead to transform India into a �dynastic democracy�,� he said.
�The press censorship laws imposed in India and in Germany were almost similar. You had effectively a one party system in play,� he said. � PTI
