Jaitley Compares Indira Gandhi to Hitler on Emergency Anniversary
‘She Made India a ‘Dynastic Democracy’
New Delhi: Accusing Indira Gandhi of turning democracy into constitutional dictatorship, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the common man who did not understand dictatorship understood it because of forced sterilization during Emergency.
Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency on June 25, 1975 on account of international disturbances, suspending key fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution to every citizen.
“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,’” wrote Jaitley in a Facebook post.
Jaitley pointed out how Indira Gandhi’s claim that disorder was planned by opposition mirrored Hitler’s “Reichstag” episode.
“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,” said Jaitley.
Jaitley highlighted how press was subdued and Congress pushed the idea of single party democracy through its paper National Herald.
“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,” Jaitley said.
On the mid-night of June 25-26, 1975 several prominent political leaders of the opposition parties were arrested.
“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,” said Jaitley.
Jaitley also highlighted upon the lesson learnt from Emergency.
“The Lesson from the Emergency is that 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,” said Jaitley.
