Black spot on Congress

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Black spot on Congress

Congress is considered as a pro-democracy party and till 25th June 1975, its reputation was intact. On the day, the then-president Fakruddin Ali declared an emergency in the country on the recommendation of the then prime minister late Indira Gandhi. The critics of Pundit Nehru admit one thing that, Nehru had many faults but he never undermine democratic values. He always takes criticism as a right of opposition. But, he could not imbibe the same values in his daughter Indira.  So, when Allahabad high court rejected her election to the Loksabha, she immediately declared an emergency and overnight opposition leaders were arrested and confined to jails. The law under which they were arrested had a provision that they could be kept in the jails without inquiry for an indefinite period. As Indira was the daughter of Nehru, the opposition was off guard when she declared suddenly emergency. Finally, the opposition and people unitedly fought the menace and in the elections held after two years and six months, the Indira government was defeated. Later, the Janata government collapsed due to their internal differences in history.  But, in the emergency, every democratic value was crushed under the feet of the government machinery. But, the relevance of this unique struggle for the establishment of democratic values has receded now as nobody cares for democracy today.  Congress leaders today criticize PM Modi's government for suppressing the voice of opposition and critics are labeled as anti-national and are being prosecuted for sedition. To some extent, these charges have the truth. But, they can’t be compared to the atrocities inflicted on opposition leaders languished in jails during the emergency. The opposition leaders were being beaten blue and black. The brother of former defense minister late George Farnandis, Oscar Farnandis was beaten so brutally that he became handicapped forever.  Sensor ship was inflicted on the  newspapers and the content was being published only after vetoed by government officials. That period was very different and the battle was very unique. Today, the values for which battle was fought against emergency have lost their relevance. Congress never thought to impose an emergency after that black period, but it never felt necessity to do it. Because, without imposing directly emergency, Congress or any other party in power for that matter, now very clearly understand how a dictatorship can be brought. The government can buy the owners of the media houses so that, only favorable news will be published. So where is the need for an emergency?  Police or government machinery can be used according to the government’s will and whims and the need for emergency never arises.  Today, Congress alleges the Modi government for misusing ED or CBI-like institutions and it is true in its allegations. But, the Congress government has done the same when Modi was chief minister of Gujrat and he was harassed by CBI for months by the Congress government at the center.  No party today respects true democratic values and uses all the means and ways to achieve what they want able it through illegal manner.  So, emergency and the values for which Indian people and opposition parties created a huge fight against it have been erased now from public life. The people or parties do not care much for the legality of their ways of achieving success. The next generation will never bother about the suppression of democratic values in an emergency. Still, the black spot on the history of Congress will never faded away.