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Shashi Tharoor on 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas': 'No murder, Emergency wasn't unconstitutional'
Union home minister Amit Shah announced that the government will observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas'.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre for declaring June 25 as 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' to commemorate the imposition of the Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government nearly 50 years ago. He defended the Emergency, stating that while it was undemocratic, it was not unconstitutional.
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"It's a bit bizarre to declare a date as "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas". First, the Samvidhan is alive and well and strongly supported by the electorate. No hatya (murder) has occurred," the senior Congress leader said in an X post.
"What happened on that date (June 25, 1975) was entirely in accordance with the provisions of the Samvidhan. It was undemocratic, but not unconstitutional," Tharoor said.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP shared an article of Hindustan Times from June where he defended the imposition of Emergency by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. "I think arresting opposition politicians, censoring the press, and a number of steps taken during that period were undemocratic, but, sadly, not unconstitutional,” he remarked in response toPresident Droupadi Murmu address to a joint sitting of Parliament where she condemned Emergency.
Union home minister Amit Shah announced that the government will observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' to honour those who endured the hardships of that period.
The Congress criticised the government's decision, calling it another "headline-grabbing exercise in hypocrisy" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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 Modi Mukti Diwas."
