BJP flays Congress on its Emergency 'blame game'

BANGALORE: BJP on Thursday ridiculed Congress efforts to "shift the blame" on an individual for the excesses during the Emergency, saying it was making serious charges against Indira Gandhi in the process of "manufacturing" new history.

"What kind of tyranny and what kind of autocracy prevailed during Emergency has been brought to the fore by the Congress now", senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters in Bangalore apparently referring to the late Sanjay Gandhi being blamed pointedly in a book released by the Congress.

In a candid admission, the Congress has said "unlimited state and party power" was concentrated in the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency when Sanjay Gandhi implemented various measures in an "arbitrary and authoritarian" manner.

Reacting to the contents of the book to mark the Congress's 125th year of foundation,Jaitley said "they explicitly admitted that such was the level of nepotism during the Indira Gandhi period. That was despotic regime during the emergency".

The book also highlighted that even the family members of the Prime Minister had behaved autocratically and added "it may or may not be a reflection on the family members but certainly a reflection on the then Prime Minister",he said.

Describing the effort to shift the blame of "autocracy and dictatorship" of Emergency only on one member of the party as a "crude" attempt to manufacture history, Jaitley said Indira Gandhi should own the entire responsibility as the head of the government.