Gorakhpur: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Tuesday, asserted that the Congress Party has consistently lacked faith in India's Constitution and democracy, adding that whenever the party got an opportunity, it undermined the Constitution and stifled democratic principles.
"The Constitution and democracy continue to be endangered by Congress and its allies within the INDI alliance", he remarked.
Chief Minister Yogi was addressing a seminar on the topic "Black Day" and 'Loktantra Rakshak Senani Samman' program, organized by the district and Mahanagar units of the BJP at Yogi Raj Baba Gambhirnath Auditorium.
After honouring 28 Loktantra Rakshak Senani, the Chief Minister stated, "50 years ago, on this very day at midnight, the Congress government, led by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, wrote a dark chapter in Indian parliamentary democracy. By strangling the Constitution and imposing the Emergency, Congress made a malicious attempt to dismantle democracy."
He further added that by imposing the emergency, Congress undermined citizens' fundamental rights and stripped the judiciary of its powers. "Those who opposed this dictatorial regime were imprisoned and subjected to inhumane torture. This was the epitome of crushing democracy", he stated further.
CM Yogi said, "During the Emergency, we all witnessed the brutal face of Congress. It attempted to destroy the soul of the Constitution by amending the Preamble, which is considered its fundamental spirit. At that time, when voices were raised, opposition leaders and democracy supporters like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, and Lal Krishna Advani were arrested and imprisoned."
The Chief Minister said that even today, although the Congress Party may have changed its face, its core character remains the same as it was during the Emergency, even while being out of power.
He said, "Whenever Congress got the opportunity, it did not hesitate to strangle democracy and the Constitution. The Constitution, which was accepted for unity and integrity in independent India, was forcibly amended a few days later by Congress with Article 370, laying the foundation for terrorism in Kashmir."
From 1950 to 2014, Congress made more than 75 amendments for selfish gains. Congress invoked Article 356 more than 90 times to dismiss state governments. It is essential to make the current and future generations aware of Congress's misdeeds so that no generation has to face oppression like the Emergency again, he added.
Yogi said that in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress deceitfully promised to amend the Constitution and end reservations, misleading the public with false promises. The reality is that whenever given the chance, it has attempted to abolish SC-ST and OBC reservations. Meanwhile, in Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia, reservations for SC-ST and OBCs were not implemented under the guise of appeasement.
Continuing his attack on the opposition, he stated, "Congress members undermine India's democracy when abroad. They cast doubts on India's Election Commission and EVMs as well as criticize India and its democracy from outside the country." Targeting the INDIA bloc led by the Congress, CM Yogi said that it is regrettable that the present generation of those parties, whose founders and leaders fought for the protection of the country's democracy, Constitution, and civil rights in 1975, endured the hardships of jail and sacrificed everything for democracy, are now sitting in the lap of the same Congress. They are shamefully attempting to push the country towards Congress's dictatorship, anti-democratic, and anti-constitutional policies again. Sheetal Pandey, Ramesh Vishwakarma, Yogendra Gupta, Surendra Singh, Dr Keshav Singh, Shiv Prakash Agarwal, Rajaram, Deep Narayan Shukla, Suresh Khanna, Dr Mahesh Pathak, Rajkishore Mishra, Durga Prasad Mishra, Bhagwati Singh, Chhedi Lal, Dhanraj Singh, Shambhu Singh Srinet, Rajesh Gupta, Kshatrapati Shukla, Harilal Chaurasia, Sheshnath Singh, Baldev Yadav, Shri Krishna Gupta, Nagendra Singh, Rameshwar Singh, Narendra Yadav, Lalji Singh, Abhimanyu Shahi, Hemant Singh, Vinay Pranacharya, Abhay Pandey, Abhimanyu Singh, Ramnaresh.
On this occasion, former MLA and Loktantra Rakshak Senani Sheetal Pandey shared his memories related to the Emergency.
MLC and BJP state vice-president Dr Dharmendra Singh, regional president Sahajanand Rai, MLA Vipin Singh, Mahendrapal Singh, Rajesh Tripathi, Pradeep Shukla, BJP metropolitan general secretary Omprakash Sharma, Chhotelal Maurya, Manoj Shukla, Achyutanand Shahi etc. were present in the program. —ANI
