Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah addresses the “50 years of Emergency” programme in New Delhi today

2025-06-24 Information

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah addressed the “50 Years of Emergency” programme organized by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Trust in New Delhi today. Many dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Addressing the program organized on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah said that when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi decided on 11 July 2024 that every year 25 June will be commemorated as ‘SamvidhanHatya Diwas’, then the question arose that what will be achieved today by talking about an incident that happened 50 years ago. Shri Shah said, Modi Ji decided to commemorate ‘’SamvidhanHatya Diwas’ so that the country can always remember how the country has to suffer terrible consequences when a government becomes dictatorial. He said that when 50 years of any good or bad national event are completed, its memory becomes blurred in social life and if the memory of the society is blurred about an incident like Emergency which shook the foundation of democracy, then it is a big danger for any democratic country, because democracy and dictatorship are two emotions of the mind, which need not be associated with any person. He said that the emotions of the mind are actually the emotions of human nature, which can emerge again and come as a challenge in front of the country and society.

Shri Amit Shah said that India is considered the mother of democracy in the world. Democracy in India is not just the spirit of the Constitution, rather the Constitution makers have interpreted the spirit of the people in the form of words contained in the Constitution and this is our national character.

Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah said that he is sure that any sensible citizen who lived during the Emergency would not have liked it. He said that those who were illusioned that no one can challenge them, were defeated in the elections held after the Emergency and a non-Congress government was formed for the first time after independence. He said that even though it has been 50 years since the Emergency, but even today the wound in the hearts of crores of Indians is as fresh as it was during the Emergency. He said that said that it was not an emergency but the ‘ananykal’ of the then ruling party.

Shri Amit Shah said that it took 2 years 11 years and 18 days to make our constitution, 13 committees were formed, 11 sessions were held in 165 days. Various provisions of the constitution were discussed at length. There was a discussion of 1100 hours and 32 minutes. The drafting committee of seven members gave it its final shape. He said that the constitution which was made with more discussions, sacrifices and penance than the constitutions of all the democracies in the world, was rejected in a minute by the order of the kitchen cabinet. Shri Shah said that the night of 24 June 1975 was the longest night in the history of independent India because its morning came after 21 months and it was also the shortest night, because that night the exercise of 2 years 11 months and 18 days was cancelled in a moment.

Union Home Minister said that Emergency is the name of the conspiracy to convert the multi-party democracy of a democratic country into dictatorship of one person, which was strongly opposed by many people at that time even at the cost of personal loss. He said that ’emergency’ is not a result of circumstances and compulsion but is a product of dictatorial mentality and hunger for power.

Shri Amit Shah said during emergency the governments formed on the basis of people’s mandate were toppled overnight by trampling the spirit of the constitution. The people of the country and especially the young generation should never forget what happens when the dictatorial qualities of a person come to the fore. He said that today I ask those who invoke the constitution whether the consent of the Parliament was taken before declaring the emergency, whether a cabinet meeting was called, whether the countrymen and the opposition were taken into confidence. He said that these are the people associated with the same party who instead of playing the role of protector of democracy, acted as destroyers of democracy.

Union Home Minister said that the emergency was imposed citing the security of the nation, but its main reason was to ensuring protection of power. He said that the then Prime Minister murdered the Constitution by using the different sections of the Constitution and threw the country into a long Emergency. He said that a number of incidents and protests and movements had shaken the chairs and foundations of the government elected by majority. There was neither any external nor any internal threat to the security of the country. In fact, the public had become aware.

Shri Amit Shah said that the then Prime Minister misused Article 352 to impose emergency and put 1 lakh 10 thousand opposition political leaders in jail. Activists, independent editors, reporters, dissatisfied student leaders and people engaged in various creative works were also put in jail. The legislature, executive, judiciary, press and media, artists and the general public watched this incident in shock and the whole country turned into a prison. He said that the Constitution was misused in such a way that Indian democracy will always remember like a nightmare.

Union Home Minister said that during the Emergency, thoughts, pen and opposition were put in prison. So many amendments were made in the Constitution during the Emergency that it was called a ‘mini version’ of the Constitution. The preamble was changed, Article 14 was changed, 7 schedules were changed and changes were made in 40 different clauses. New articles were added, new sections were inserted, the 42nd Constitutional Amendment even changed the basic structure of the Constitution, the judiciary was upset because those who gave justice in the judiciary had earlier made it favorable to them. Shri Shah said that the 69th section of the Constitutional Amendment also took away the powers of the Supreme Court. Democratic rights were abolished and agencies were misused in such a way that Indian society, this country and the people of this country can never forget. He said that this is why the government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has decided to commemorated Constitution Hatya Diwas. He said that it should remain in the memory of the whole country that when a person elected democratically becomes a dictator, then how the country has to suffer adverse consequences.

Shri Amit Shah said that more than one crore sterilizations were done during the Emergency. The voice of popular singer Kishore Kumar was stopped from being broadcast on All India Radio. He said that this is a lesson for all the political parties of the country that the existence of different ideologies is the basis of democracy. Whatever the ideology, whatever the path, ultimately our aim should be to make the country great. Shri Shah said that the country can never be created in such a way that everyone will work on the basis of the same ideology, will work under the leadership of the same leader and I am the only one right and no one has the right to even vote. Such a mentality does not match the basic spirit of our Constitution.

Union Home Minister said that the Constitution has sharpened the spirit of democracy, expressed it and established it legally. The Constitution has established the spirit of democracy in the minds of our people and expressed it in legal language. The people of India are democratic minded by nature. We are people who respect different ideas, different ideologies and different opinions. This is our culture of thousands of years, that is why we consider India as the mother of democracy. If we look at it from the perspective of history, democracy was first born in our country and the idea of Sarpanch came from this country.

Shri Amit Shah said that the foundation of our democracy is so deep that if any dictator tries to shake this foundation, he will be able to do nothing but ruin his future. He said that today is the day to condemn the heinous act of imposing emergency and for the youth to take up the torch of protecting democracy for the future. He said that the youth of the country must read the report of the Shah Commission. If in the future dictatorial thoughts come to anyone’s mind, then this will create an enthusiasm to become a leader like Jai Prakash Narayan and that report will also show a path. He said that it is the responsibility of the public to protect the spirit of the Constitution. It is also the responsibility of the public to punish those who play with this spirit.