Kharge slams PM Modi for remarks on Emergency

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his comments on the Emergency, and accused him of enforcing an "undeclared emergency" in the last 10 years.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the prime minister is raking up the past only to hide his failures.

He also said that PM Modi talks of consensus and cooperation but does just the opposite.

"Narendra Modi ji, 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," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

"Breaking parties, toppling elected governments through the backdoor, misuse of agencies like ED, CBI, IT against 95 percent 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 said.

Prime Minister Modi said Tuesday that those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess love for the Constitution.

Hitting out at the main opposition party, he said on 'X', "The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again".

Countering the PM, Kharge said, "Modi ji talks of consensus and cooperation but his actions are just the opposite."

The Congress chief asked 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 that consensus then.

"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 said.

Kharge said there are several other examples when the government did not use consensus, including note ban, lockdown and electoral bonds law.

What to talk of the opposition, even your own leaders were kept in the dark, he alleged.

In the 17th Lok Sabha the least number of 16 percent bills were sent to Parliamentary Standing Committees and 35 percent of bills brought in Lok Sabha were passed within one hour, while 34 percent of the bills were passed within an hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress chief claimed.

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

Congress leader P Chidambaram said the people of the country have voted for the 18th Lok Sabha in such a manner that no "divine ruler" can change the basic structure of the Constitution.

In a post on 'X', he said the people have voted to curtail the ambitions of the BJP.

"Hon'ble Prime Minister said that 'Emergency reminds us to protect the Constitution'. Very true," Chidambaram said.

"I may add, the Constitution reminded the people to prevent another Emergency, and they voted to curtail the ambitions of the BJP. The people voted for the 18th Lok Sabha in such a manner that no human or divine ruler can change the basic structure of the Constitution," he added.

"India will remain a liberal, democratic and secular Union of States," the Congress leader added.

On June 25, 1975, the then-prime minister Indira Gandhi, a Congress stalwart, imposed the Emergency in the country, suspending civil liberties, jailing opposition leaders and dissidents and effecting press censorship.