STATE TIMES NEWS JAMMU: Observing the day of imposition of Emergency 25 June as Black Day, BJP’s unit of District Jammu West held a webinar which was addressed by BJP UT General Secretary (org.) Ashok Kaul. Former State President BJP Sat Sharma, District President Munish Khajuria, Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta and former MLC Ramesh Arora also spoke on the occasion. The leaders who were a part of the Emergency movement also shared their experiences and views in the webinar. Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Kaul said that the dark days of emergency can never be forgotten. He said that the period from 1975 to 1977 witnessed systematic destruction of institutions and this is how Congress trampled over our democratic ethos. He also remembered all those greats who resisted the Emergency and protected Indian democracy by sacrificing themselves. He said Indira Gandhi never abrogated the Constitution. She used a republican Constitution to transform democracy into dictatorship, he added. Sat Sharma said that Indira 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. He also said the Representation of People Act was retrospectively amended to insert those provisions so that the invalid election of Indira Gandhi could be validated by changes in law. Munish Khajuria said that the emergency was the darkest period in India’s Independence History. He said IndIra Gandhi and Congress placed Lakhs of people in jails and curtailed freedom to speak.
