Jaishankar Slams Gandhi Family Over Emergency: “Never Take Freedom For Granted”

New Delhi: Marking the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar launched a sharp critique against the Gandhi family, calling the 1975 imposition of Emergency a blatant subversion of democracy orchestrated by a single family that considered itself above the nation.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s (BJYM) Mock Parliament, Jaishankar said the Emergency was not just a political event but a calculated assault on the country’s democratic ethos. “The one lesson Emergency taught us is this — never take freedom for granted,” he emphasized.

The Minister minced no words as he pinned responsibility squarely on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her family. “All this happened because of one family. There’s a film titled Kissa Kursi Ka, and those three words explain it all — the lust for power,” Jaishankar said. He added that the Emergency was a direct outcome of a mindset that placed familial power above constitutional values.

Jaishankar noted that even those who had no political affiliations were impacted during the Emergency, with widespread arrests and fear gripping the country. “For those in politics, arrest was a certainty. For those already arrested, the uncertainty of release loomed indefinitely,” he said.

Recalling the political climate of the early 1970s, Jaishankar said that although Indira Gandhi had won a resounding victory in the 1971 elections, her popularity began to wane soon after. “There was rising anger due to inflation and corruption. Protests erupted in Gujarat and Bihar. People began questioning the actions of the then ‘yuvraj’,” he said, referring to Sanjay Gandhi.

He pointed out that the tipping point came after the Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices and misuse of official machinery. Rather than stepping down, Gandhi responded by declaring a nationwide Emergency on June 25, 1975, which was rubber-stamped by then-President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

During the 21-month period of Emergency, civil liberties were suspended, press freedom was crushed, and thousands of opposition leaders, students, and activists were thrown behind bars without trial.

Jaishankar also took an indirect swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, stating, “Some people carry the Constitution in their hands, but their intentions tell a different story.” He accused the Congress party of never expressing regret for the Emergency. “Political parties have a DNA. The DNA of this party has never acknowledged the wrongs of that period,” he added.

In view of the 50th anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed that all legal records from the Emergency era be compiled and preserved as a national archive. The BJP has dubbed June 25 as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas (Constitution Murder Day), to remind citizens of what it calls one of the darkest chapters in Indian democracy.

“The values enshrined in the Indian Constitution were set aside. Fundamental rights were suspended, the press was gagged, and democracy was effectively placed under arrest,” Jaishankar said.

As the nation reflects on 50 years since the imposition of Emergency, the political discourse has once again returned to questions of authoritarianism, civil liberties, and the resilience of Indian democracy — with the BJP positioning itself as the custodian of those democratic values that, it claims, were trampled upon by the Congress five decades ago.