Prime Minister Narendra Modi released “Dark Days of Democracy,” the 101st book penned by Adv. P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, eminent lawyer, national executive member and former Kerala state president of BJP, writer, columnist and poet, in a special but simple ceremony at PMO on March 21, 2018.
The book depicts the dark days of Emergency (1975 – 1977) under the fascist, dynastic and autocratic rule of Indira Gandhi. It speaks out that the RSS and its inspired organizations were the only people who fought the fascism those days. It gives shocking descriptions of the kind of police torture the Sangh parivar workers, under the banner of Lok Sangharsh Samiti (LSS), suffered as they were the part and parcel of the anti-Emergency struggles and agitations. The police tortures in Kerala were unbelievable in a civilized society. BJP Kerala state president Kummanam Rajasekharan , national executive member P.K. Krishnadas, union minister Alphons Kannanthanam, former ABVP leader K.G. Venugopal, former union minister P.C. Thomas, former Minorities Commission member John Joseph, Venugopal of BJP Parliamentary Party office and Adv. Pillai and his family members attended the programme. Right Rev. Gregorious Mar Stephanos Episcopa, Bishop of Mar Thomas Church in Delhi received the first copy of the book from the prime minister.
Early in March, PM had congratulated Sreedharan Pillai for his new venture. PM said, in a letter, that Emergency remains the darkest chapter in the country’s history when the citizens’ democratic rights were taken away overnight. Those days, the country witnessed the indefatigable spirit and sacrifices of the people of the country who fought relentlessly against the authoritarianism. Sreedharan Pillai who had fought against Emergency as a student activist has penned this book to remind those dark days. PM wrote, Pillai’s experiences have made this book a powerful document.
Sreedharan Pillai fights a triangular contest in a by-election to Kerala legislative assembly from Chengannur constituency, Kerala, which he missed in 2016 by a narrow margin.
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