Chidambaram hits out at PM Modi over remark on 1975 Emergency

NEW DELHI: Congress leader P Chidambaram said Tuesday 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.

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

On the 49th anniversary of the 1975 Emergency, the prime minister said its dark days are a reminder of how the Congress subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution.

Hitting out at the main opposition party, he said on 'X', "These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution."

"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," Modi said.

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.