Mann Ki Baat: Emergency a dark night no Indian can forget, says PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat address on Sunday, criticised imposition of Emergency by former PM Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975, terming it a “dark night” when the country had become a prison.

“Not only is democracy a system, but also a sanskar– a part of our ethos. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. One needs to be constantly alert about our democracy,that is why we must also keep remembering the events that inflicted harm upon our democracy; and at the same time move ahead, carrying forward the virtues of democracy. 1975, 25th June – it was a dark night that no devotee of democracy can ever forget. No Indian can ever forget,” the PM said.

Referring to a poem by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in jail, Modi said: “The country had virtually become a prison and the voice of the opposition had been smothered” during the Emergency. He also referred to several prominent leaders, including Jai Prakash Narayan, who were jailed.

“The judicial system too could not escape the sinister shadows of Emergency. The Press was completely muffled. The present-day students of journalism and the champions of democracy have been endeavouring towards raising awareness about that dark period, by constant reminders, and should continue to do so,” the PM said.

“The believers of democracy fought a prolonged war, and the great nation that India is, where the spirit of democracy pervades the very being of all its people, the strength of that spirit was demonstrated when the opportunity of elections came. We have to further fortify that legacy,” the PM added.

The PM also wished the country on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and recounted an instance of a group of Muslims in a UP village coming together to build toilets during Ramzan.

“I came across a very inspiring incident at Mubarakpur village of Bijnor in UP. (Muslims) in a way, form a majority of its population.... To construct these toilets, the government gives financial assistance, under which, they were provided .`17 lakh. You will be pleasantly surprised... that, during Ramzan, these Muslim brothers and sisters, returned this money to the government saying they would construct toilets with their own labour and money,” the PM said.