Samvidhan Hatya Diwas: Sanjay Raut defends Emergency, says Bal Thackeray, RSS supported it
The Union government on Friday announced that June 25 will be remembered annually as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ in remembrance of the Emergency.
Shiv Sena (UBT) on Saturday ridiculed the Centre's decision to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no work left and only wants to “mislead” people as it “doesn't have a (parliamentary) majority”.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut asserted that Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had supported the Emergency. Raut said that the Emergency was imposed because “some people wanted to spread anarchy” and “ were making bombs in the country”.
“They (BJP) have no work left. It has been 50 years, and people have forgotten the Emergency,” Raut told ANI.
“Why was an Emergency imposed in this country? Some people wanted to spread anarchy in the country. An open announcement was made from Ramlila Maidan, Our jawans and army were asked not to follow the orders of the government,” the Sena (UBT) leader said.
“So in such a situation, if Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been the prime minister, he would have also imposed it. It was a matter of national security, some people were making bombs in the country and were exploding bombs at various places. Balasaheb Thackeray had openly supported the Emergency at that time. RSS had also supported it,” he added.
Read: 'Congress unleashed dark phase': PM Modi on Samvidhan Hatya Diwas
BJP leader Ajay Alok said Sanjay Raut's remarks on 'Emergency'are "meaningless and pointless."
“He has forgotten Balasaheb Thackeray, how will he remember 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas'? This day is important because our current and future generations should know how on June 25, 1975, the constitutional rights of 140 crore Indians were taken away,” Ajay Alok told PTI.
To be sure, India's population in 1975 was less than 63 crore.
A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union home ministry notes that Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, following which there was "gross abuse of power by the government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities".
Read: Centre to mark Emergency; Opposition hits out
The people of India have abiding faith in the Constitution and the power of its resilient democracy, it said.
"Therefore, 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 future," says the notification.
The announcement triggered a political slugfest, with Congress terming it yet another "headline-grabbing exercise in hypocrisy" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.