Amit Shah slams Congress on 45th anniversary of Emergency, says 'interests of one family prevailed over party and nation'

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah came down heavily on the Congress on Thursday, saying the interests of one family prevailed over the party and national interests, and questioned why the ‘‘Emergency mindset’’ still remained in the Opposition party. On the 45th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency in the country, Shah claimed leaders are feeling suffocated in the Congress and the party’s disconnect with people keeps widening. “On this day, 45 years ago one family’s greed for power led to the imposition of the Emergency. Overnight the nation was turned into a prison. The press, courts, free speech… all were trampled over. Atrocities were committed on the poor and downtrodden,” he said in a series of tweets.

Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed Emergency on 25 June, 1975, and it continued till 21 March, 1977. The home minister said due to the efforts of lakhs of people, the Emergency was lifted, democracy was restored in India but it remained absent in the Congress. “The interests of one family prevailed over party’s interests and national interests. This sorry state of affairs thrives in today’s Congress too!,” he said. Referring to a recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Shah said senior and younger members raised a few issues but, they were shouted down. He said a Congress party spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked and the sad truth was that leaders were feeling suffocated in Congress. “As one of India’s Opposition parties, Congress needs to ask itself: Why does the Emergency mindset remain? Why are leaders who don’t belong to one dynasty unable to speak up? Why are leaders getting frustrated in Congress? “Else, their disconnect with people will keep widening,” he said. Shah also shared links of two news reports in his tweets. The first was related to a recent CWC meeting where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that he was “not scared of PM Modi” and would continue to attack him, while accusing most leaders of skipping direct criticism of the prime minister. According to the news, Rahul flew into a rage when CWC permanent invitee RPN Singh suggested that Congress must ensure that criticism of Modi on the Chinese incursion was not personal. The second news report which Shah shared was on the removal of Sanjay Jha as a spokesperson of the Congress, days after he wrote a newspaper article critical of the party. In the article published recently, Jha had said, “The Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling…” “I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency,” he had said in the article in a national daily.