'Those who imposed Emergency have no right to profess love for Constitution': PM Modi hits out at Congress

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to all men and women who resisted the Emergency and highlighted the dark days when Congress took away basic freedoms and trampled the Constitution of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Emergency criticized the Congress on Tuesday (June 25), alleging that the party ignored democratic principles and "turned the country into a jail" when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency in 1975.

"Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India, which every Indian respects greatly," he said.

"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," he tweeted.

"Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. 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," he said.

"The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same Party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again," he added.