Govt declares June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’
NEW DELHI: The BJP-led NDA government continued its sharp attack on the Congress over the Emergency, announcing on Friday that June 25 will be observed every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.’
Making the announcement on X, Union Home Minister Amit Shah posted a gazette notification and wrote: “On June 25, 1975, the then PM Indira Gandhi, in a brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of our democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation. Lakhs of people were thrown behind bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced.”
“The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.’ This day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency,” he added.
He also said the observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing “dictatorial forces” like the Congress from “repeating those horrors.”
“Therefore, the Government of India declares 25th June as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency and to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power in the future,” said the notification.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also posted on X and said the day will serve as a reminder of the Constitution being trampled over.
“To observe 25th June as #SamvidhaanHatyaDiwas will serve as a reminder of what happens when the Constitution of India is trampled over. It is also a day to pay homage to each and every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history,” the PM wrote.
Hitting back at the BJP, the Congress accused it of indulging in “yet another headline-grabbing exercise in hypocrisy.” During the 2024 general election campaign and in the run-up to the polls, the Congress and other Opposition parties accused the BJP and the Central government of violating the Constitution as well as weakening constitutional institutions, including the Election Commission and the judiciary.
The Opposition attack gained ground and momentum when, in the months leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde and the party’s Meerut candidate Arun Govil, among others, said that the NDA had set itself a target of winning 400 seats because it wanted to amend the Constitution.
The Opposition, united under the INDIA umbrella, focused on its narrative that the BJP wanted to end reservation and “dismantle” the Constitution. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and others also carried a copy of the Constitution and built upon their campaign that the INDIA alliance was fighting to protect the Constitution.
On its part, the BJP and the government claimed that the opposition was spreading lies. As the results showed, the BJP was limited to 240 Lok Sabha seats and the NDA to 293.
On June 25 this year, PM Modi led the attack against the Emergency, posting on X: “Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India which every Indian respects greatly.”
“Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. 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,” he wrote, adding that the mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency was “very much alive among the same party which imposed it.”
The Emergency also figured in President Droupadi Murmu’s address to a joint sitting of Parliament.
Slamming the government move, Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications) Jairam Ramesh said: “Yet another headline-grabbing exercise in hypocrisy by the non-biological PM who had imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten long years before the people of India handed him a decisive personal, political, and moral defeat on June 4, 2024 - which will go down in history as ModiMukti Diwas.”
“This is a non-biological PM who has subjected the Constitution of India and its principles, values, and institutions to systematic assault,” Ramesh said on X.
“This is a non-biological PM whose ideological parivar had rejected the Constitution of India in Nov 1949 on the grounds that it did not derive inspiration from Manusmriti. This is a non-biological PM for whom democracy means only demo-kursi,” the Congress leader said.
.
