New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday addressed a gathering to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, which marked the imposition of authoritarian rule in India on June 25, 1975. Speaking at the “Aapatkal Ke 50 Saal” event in New Delhi, Shah invoked the resilience of the Indian people and warned that the scars of that dark period remain etched in the nation’s collective memory.
“The people of this country will never accept dictatorship,” Shah declared. He added that the fight against the Emergency helped preserve India’s democratic ethos. Emphasising the importance of historical memory, Shah urged that the lessons from that era must never be forgotten, warning that erasing such memories could endanger the very foundation of a democratic society.
#WATCH | Delhi: Addressing the ‘Aapatkaal Ke 50 Saal’ program, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, “… Imagine being jailed just for having the thought of being free. We cannot even imagine how cruel that morning may have been for the people of India…” pic.twitter.com/EIBGV8bdfo
— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2025
Emergency of 1975: An era marked by chaos and unrest
Shah directly challenged the credibility of Congress leaders who, he said, now champion the Constitution. Recalling the events of the Emergency, he noted that Parliament was not consulted before its imposition, and that claims of constitutional protection rang hollow.
“One day, you are a free citizen. The next morning, you wake up as a subject under a dictator,” Shah remarked, highlighting the abrupt suspension of civil liberties under the Emergency imposed under the Congress regime. He noted that over 110,000 dissenters, including journalists, students, social activists, and politicians, were detained without trial.
The Union Home Minister also emphasised the institutional collapse during the Emergency. The entire administrative machinery, he said, was sidelined, while the judiciary, legislature, and press were stifled. Prominent opposition figures such as George Fernandes and Jayaprakash Narayan were jailed without due process, and dissenting voices were censored or silenced entirely, he said.
He further criticised the Congress’s current “Constitution in danger” narrative, questioning whether the Parliament had been taken into confidence at the time of the Emergency’s imposition.
