Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was a ‘mistake’. He said that whatever happened during that time was ‘wrong’ but was completely different from the present time as Congress never tried to capture the institutional structure of the country. In a conversation with Kaushik Basu, a professor at Cornell University in the US and former Chief Economic Advisor of India, Gandhi said that he favored internal democracy in the Congress.
He said that Congress fought for India’s independence, gave the country its constitution and stood for equality. In response to an emergency question, he said, “I think it was a mistake.” Sure, that was a mistake. And my grandmother (Indira Gandhi) said the same. “
Pranab Mukherjee had told Basu that Indira Gandhi had announced the election at the end of the Emergency, that she did so because she feared losing. On the question asked in this regard, Rahul Gandhi said that whatever happened in the Emergency was ‘wrong’ and there is a fundamental difference between him and the situation today. Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi for a period of 21 months from 1975 to 1977. During this time the fundamental rights of the citizens of the country were curbed.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said last year on the completion of 45 years of Emergency that greed for power of one family led to Emergency in the country. The interests of a family dominated the party’s interests and national interests. Overnight the nation was converted into a prison. Several top leaders of the party, including the party’s national president JP Nadda, have also surrounded the Congress on emergency on several occasions.
Emergency was imposed in the country for 21 months. It was implemented on 25 June 1975 and was scrapped on 21 March 1977. The then President Fakhruddin had declared Emergency in the country under Article 352 of the Constitution at the behest of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
