On Emergency anniversary, Arun Jaitley compares Indira Gandhi to Adolf Hitler
Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday took to social media to slam the Congress party and ex-PM Indira Gandhi on the anniversary of Emergency, imposed in the year 1975.
Recollecting the bygone era, at a time when Jaitley was a student leader, Union Minister said , " On the mid night of 25th and 26th June a fresh proclamation was got signed by the President on a state of internal emergency. Simultaneously with the proclamation under Article 352, another proclamation under Article 359 was issued.The June 25-26 emergency proclamation suspended the fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. Every Indian was now devoid of this fundamental right."
Highlighting the political situation at that time, Jaitley wrote, " During Emergency an atmosphere of fear & terror prevailed in the country. Political activity had come to a grinding halt. The dissenters were mainly political workers of the opposition party & the RSS. They kept repeatedly organizing Satyagrahas & courted arrest." Jaitley also highlighted how press freedom went for a toss during the period. According to Union Minister, " The press was completely terrorized. Most editors & journalists surrendered & reconciled with the Idea of living in dictatorship. The Congress Party newspaper “National Herald” editorially commented that time had come for India to evolve into a single party democracy."
In a stinging comparison, Jaitley compared Indira Gandhi's working style to that of German dictator Adolf Hitler. According to him, "Mrs. Gandhi's imposition of Emergency under Article 352, suspension of fundamental rights under Article 359 and her claim that “disorder was planned by the opposition in the country”, echoed Hitler's “Reichstag” episode as exposed by the Nuremberg trials after 13 years"
Drawing parallel of their work, Jaitley said, " Both Hitler & Mrs. Gandhi never abrogated the Constitution. They used a republican Constitution to transform democracy into dictatorship. Hitler arrested most of the opposition Members of Parliament & converted his minority Government in Parliament into a 2/3rd majority govt.The Representation of People Act was retrospectively amended to insert those provisions so that the invalid election of Mrs. Gandhi could be validated by changes in law. Unlike Hitler, Mrs. Gandhi went ahead to transform India into a ‘dynastic Democracy’.
Recalling the famous “Indira is India and India is Indira” quote by a Congressman, Jaitley says Jaiprakash Narayan in a letter to Indira Gandhi said, " Do not equate yourself with the nation. India is immortal, you are not”.
According to Jaitley, the lessons from Emergency are, " If you curb free speech and allow only propaganda, you become the first victim of propaganda because you start believing that your own propaganda is the truth and the full truth." Virtually admitting that Emergency got some support from commoners, Jaitley said that they understood the implications when forced sterlization was done.
from Daily News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2tqCEcf
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