New Delhi: On 50th anniversary of the Emergency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a gathering at ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas-2025’ event in Delhi. During the program, he unveiled a book titled “The Emergency Diaries – Years that Forged a Leader”, which tells the story of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s underground role during Emergency years.
Shah said that Prime Minister Modi personally named the day as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas to ensure that the next generation remembers the dark period in Indian history. “Yes, it’s a harsh phrase,” he added, “but the Emergency was such a terrible time that it should be remembered with strong words.”
He recalled that the Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, just after the Janata Morcha defeated the Congress in Gujarat and the Allahabad High Court disqualified then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from contesting elections for six years. “The Emergency was not about the nation’s security, as claimed, it was to save Indira Gandhi’s chair,” Shah said.
He also praised Narendra Modi’s role during that period. “At just 24 or 25 years old, Modi went underground in Gujarat and worked under the guidance of Nanaji Deshmukh. Disguised as a sadhu, a sardar, and even a hippie, he carried out secret tasks. I appeal to the youth to read this book and learn how a young man who fought for the country back then is now leading the country.”
Shah further said that on the night the Emergency was announced, around 10,000 political workers were jailed. “The entire country was turned into a prison, the voices of the media and writers were silenced, and even the judiciary was made deaf,” he said.
He said that the Emergency was one of the darkest chapters in India’s post-independence history, and remembering it truthfully is necessary so that the nation never forgets what happened.
