New Delhi. The opposition appeared divided in Parliament on the issue of emergency. Only Congress MPs opposed the Speaker’s proposal on emergency. According to sources, ‘India’ alliance partners Samajwadi Party and TMC did not support Congress on this issue. SP and Trinamool Congress also supported the proposal against emergency in the Lok Sabha.
In fact, after becoming the speaker on the third day of the Lok Sabha session, Om Birla in his first speech fiercely attacked the opposition over the emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975. During this, two minutes of silence was also observed in the House in memory of those killed in the emergency. After the Speaker’s proposal, the opposition created a ruckus and raised slogans in the House for a long time.
But, the opposition did not show unity on this issue. According to sources, only the Congress party opposed the Speaker’s proposal, while TMC and SP MPs did not support the Congress on this. Not only this, the Samajwadi Party and TMC MPs also paid tribute to those killed during the Emergency.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the statement of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the Emergency on the social media platform X, “I am happy that the Honorable Speaker strongly condemned the Emergency, exposed the excesses committed during that time and also told how democracy was strangled. Keeping silence in honor of all the people who suffered during the Emergency was also a wonderful gesture.”
He further said, “The Emergency was imposed 50 years ago, but it is important for today’s youth to know about it because it is an apt example of what happens when the Constitution is trampled upon, public opinion is suppressed and institutions are destroyed. The events during the Emergency gave an example of a dictatorship.”
Meanwhile, on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, amid uproar by opposition parties, the Lok Sabha Speaker passed a censure motion in the House. Om Birla, while presenting the censure motion against the imposition of Emergency in the House, said, “This House strongly condemns the decision to impose Emergency in the country in 1975. Along with this, we appreciate the determination of all those people who strongly opposed the Emergency, fought an unprecedented struggle and took the responsibility of protecting India’s democracy.”
He said, “25 June 1975 will always be known as a black chapter in the history of India. On this day, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in the country and attacked the Constitution made by Baba Saheb Ambedkar.”
Tags: Congress, Emergency 1975, Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 26, 2024, 18:43 IST