Bhubaneswar, 25 June (H.S.)Marking the 50th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency in India, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched a scathing attack on the Congress party, calling the Emergency a dark stain on Indian democracy. He said the nation can never forget the trauma inflicted during that period.

In a strongly worded post shared on social media, Minister Pradhan stated that after Independence, the Congress party increasingly transformed into a family-centric organization.

Leaders who challenged the idea of ‘family supremacy’ were gradually sidelined, he said.

After the 1969 split in the Congress, Indira Gandhi emerged as the sole authority, and the party itself became dwarfed in comparison. She began to run the party with an iron hand, and the very idea of Emergency was born out of this dictatorial mindset.

According to Mr. Pradhan, in June 1975, driven by authoritarian impulses and a desire to cling to power, Indira Gandhi “strangled the soul of democracy and the Constitution.” He said basic rights of the people were ruthlessly crushed, and brutal attempts were made to subjugate all pillars of governance—legislature, executive, judiciary, bureaucracy, and media.

But Indira Gandhi’s biggest misjudgment was thinking that, like the Congress party, the country too would bend to her authoritarian will. She was wrong. The democratic roots of the nation were too deep to be uprooted, he added.

Minister Pradhan highlighted that a nationwide movement arose to protect democracy and the Constitution.

In 1977, authoritarianism was defeated, and democracy triumphed. The country permanently rejected Congress’s dynastic and autocratic mindset, he remarked.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Emergency, he paid tribute to all those great individuals who fought and sacrificed to protect Indian democracy.We salute the brave souls who resisted tyranny and safeguarded the spirit of our Constitution, he concluded.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda