1975 Emergency anniversary: Students' textbooks should include chapter on it, says Venkaiah Naidu

Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. File Photo

Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said that there should be a lesson in textbooks about Emergency in 1975 that tainted the country's democracy. He said the students should be made aware of how it came to be imposed in the country, reported ANI.

Speaking on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency, Naidu said, "The Emergency has put a taint on the country's democracy. There should be a lesson in the textbooks for all the students about what was and how it was imposed. Students should know that an emergency was imposed and how lakhs of people were arrested," as reported by ANI.

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Earlier, Prime Minister Modi in sharp criticism of the Congress had reportedly said that the dark days of the Emergency are a reminder of how the Congress Party trampled over the Constitution of India.

"Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the emergency. The Dark Days of Emergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India, which every Indian respects greatly," PM Modi wrote on X.

He further wrote that just to cling on to power, the then Congress government disregarded every democratic principle.

"Just to cling on to power, the then Congress government disregarded every democratic principle and made the nation into a jail. Any person who disagreed with Congress was tortured and harassed. Socially regressive policies were unleashed to target the weakest sections" the prime minister added.

Hitting out at the main opposition party, he added in posts on X that those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution.

He wrote, "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."

As per the news agency report, BJP top leaders like JP Naddam Rajnath Singh, Jaishankar also launched a scathing attack on Congress over the emergency period.

The Emergency, which is reportedly considered to be one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history, was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from June 25, 1975, to 1977.

There were political arrests, mass forced sterilisation and beautification drives among others during the period, reported ANI.

All key opposition leaders at the time, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, and Jay Prakash Narayanan, among others, were either jailed or placed under detention.

(With inputs from ANI)