Congress had shamed democracy for self-interest in 1975: Raghubar Das

Jamshedpur: Jamshedpur Mahanagar BJP observed Black Day on the anniversary of the day Emergency was imposed in 1975 by the then Indira Gandhi-led Congress government.

In a program organised to remember the day under the chairmanship of Mahanagar BJP president Gunjan Yadav at the district office of of the party in Sakchi, BJP leaders paid tributes to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan by remembering the Emergency as the darkest chapter in Indian history.

On this occasion, many democracy fighters, including the party’s national vice president cum former chief minister Raghubar Das, who were jailed during the emergency, shared the experiences of the emergency.

Raghubar Das felicitated democracy fighters Ashwini Kumar Awasthi, Ram Pukar Pandey and Munna Rajak, who were tortured in jail during the Emergency, by presenting them with angavastras.

Addressing the party workers on this occasion, the former CM Raghubar Das said that the Emergency imposed on the midnight of June 25, 1975 remaines the blackest chapter of Indian democracy.

He said that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a non-democratic decision on the people of the country to save her political future, stop the growing unity of opposition parties and remain in power.

The emergency proved to be the biggest tragedy in the history of Indian politics, he said.

Recalling the struggles of many leaders including that of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, George Fernandes, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Morarji Desai, Nanaji Deshmukh, Arun Jaitley during the Emergency, he said that their struggle and nationwide movement led to stiff resistance to dictatorship of the Congress.

Finally, he said, due to the resistance, democracy was restored in the country by ousting the government from power.

He described the contribution of the workers of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as unforgettable during the Emergency.

He said that in those days the Jan Sangh workers and volunteers, who suffered the most in the movement, were jailed and tortured.

Raghubar Das also shared his experience of going to jail during Emergency. He said that during those days of student politics, the information reached about the imposition of emergency to the grounds of Kishor Sangh in Bhalubasa.

He was arrested on July 6, at 2 pm amidst heavy rain. In the jail, along with former MLA Dinanath Pandey, Ashwini Kumar Awasthi and others, the strategy for the resistance movement was prepared.

The BJP leaders and workers also observed a 2-minute silence for all those who lost their lives during the resistance to emergency.

Devendra Singh, Chandrashekhar Mishra, Kulwant Singh Bunty, District General Secretary Anil Modi, Rakesh Singh, Boltu Sarkar, Prem Jha, Binod Kumar Singh, Gyan Prakash, Narayan Poddar, Mani Mohanty, BJYM District President Amit Agarwal, OBC Morcha President Dharmendra Prasad, Ramesh Nag, Shashi Yadav, Kaju Shandil and others were also present in the programme.