Everybody knew that Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the campaign for the 2024 general elections, more than six months ago, with the slogan “Abki baar-400 paar”. In order to counter this slogan and its impact on the minds of the people, the opposition, Indi-Alliance and especially the Congress, invented another slogan of “Samvidhan-Bachao” followed by a fake narrative that the BJP wanted an increased majority in the House only in order to change the constitution of India. They were somewhat successful in taking their message to a large section of the population during the election campaigning and it also had an undue impact on the voters’ mind during the elections.
The BJP-NDA initially took this campaign of fake narratives, false propaganda and the misleading slogans of the opposition very lightly. It responded to this vicious war-cry of the opposition very late during the election campaigning only when the damage had already been done. This propaganda of “Samvidhan-Bachao” was spearheaded by the Congress party trying to make everyone (falsely) believe that the BJP-NDA was pursuing the agenda of the change of the constitution with a purpose to derail democracy, impose dictatorship, end the reservations for the SC/ST and other backward categories as guaranteed by the constitution and declare a one-party rule in the country.
However, the leaders of the Congress very well knew that it was the Congress itself that had taken most of these dictatorial steps during its own rule in the country in the past. There was a documented history in this context available everywhere. The BJP, after the results of the elections and its consequent assumption of power at the Centre, slowly and steadily rose to the occasion and started responding to the false propaganda of the opposition in this regard decisively. They showed mirror to the opposition and especially the Congress party in this regard aptly and appropriately.
As a first major step, in the inaugural session of the parliament, the newly elected Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha, on his very first day as Speaker made a history of great political significance. On 26 June 2024, when Om Birla was re-elected the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, he read out a resolution in the House on the 1975 Emergency. The resolution blamed Congress for “suppressing the rights of the people” and “attacking the principles of democracy”. This took the entire opposition and particularly the Congress by a huge surprise. They were left with no option to reverse the resolution and it was passed by a voice vote. The Speaker Om Birla said, “This House strongly condemns the decision to impose emergency in the country in 1975. Along with this, we appreciate the determination of all those people who strongly opposed the emergency, fought an unprecedented struggle and took the responsibility of protecting the democracy of India.” The Rajya Sabha also briefly discussed this issue and left a message that the government was very serious in this regard.
Thereafter, on July 12, 2024, in a significant condemnation of the emergency that was imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975, the Central government announced that June 25th will be observed annually as the “Samvidhan Hatya Divas” (Constitution Murder Day). In addition, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the “Samvidhan Hatya Divas” will serve as a reminder of the significant sacrifices endured by those who faced the severe hardships of the 1975 Emergency. He on the occasion of the announcement in regard to the observance of ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas’ said: “The decision made by the government led by PM Shri @narendramodi Ji is intended to honour the spirit of millions who struggled to revive democracy despite facing inexplicable persecution at the hands of an oppressive government. The observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of our democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing dictatorial forces like the Congress from repeating those horrors.”
It needs to be mentioned here that on 25th June 1975, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in order to save her government, strangulated the soul of Indian democracy by imposing an internal emergency in the country. All opposition leaders, prominent social, cultural and labour activists and the other lakhs of people were jailed without any reason and the voice of the media was also suppressed. The fundamental rights of the citizens as guaranteed by the constitution were suspended, censorship imposed and the term of the Lok Sabha was also extended for one more year by increasing the life term of the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies to six years. Law was passed by the parliament that ensured that the Prime Minister could not be taken to the court of law.
The government enacted the infamous 42nd Amendment Act 1976 of the constitution. It made sweeping changes to the constitution of India, affecting its basic structure, fundamental rights and also the federal balance. It changed the original preamble of the constitution of India. It attempted to reduce the power of the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts to pronounce upon the constitutional validity of laws. This controversial amendment brought about the most widespread changes to the constitution in its history and was hence nicknamed as the ‘mini constitution’. It also curtailed the democratic rights in the country and gave sweeping powers to the Prime Minister’s Office. Indira Gandhi and the Congress exposed their dictatorial mindst during the emergency brazenly without any sort of hesitation or remorse.
The slogan “Indira is India and India is Indira” was manufactured and propagated by the then Congress President, D.K.Baruah. The undemocratic fascist regime of Indira Gandhi ruled over the country for more than 20 long months of Emergency causing great & unimaginable hardships to the citizens of the country. It also brought a severe disrepute to the name of India world wide. However, the Emergency was lifted in March-1977 following widespread public outcry and the consequent massive electoral defeat for the ruling party Congress, underscoring the resilience of democratic institutions and the importance of upholding constitutional values in India’s socio-political landscape.
Consequent upon the announcement of this government to observe the “Samvidhan Hatya Divas” every year, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Centre’s notification designating June 25 as “Samvidhan Hatya Divas” (Constitutional Murder Day) was filed in the Delhi High Court by a few lawyers. The plea stated that the impugned notification dated July 12, 2024, whereby the Government declared to celebrate the day of 25th June as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ was directly violative of the provisions of the Constitution of India and hits the provisions of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and it is ultra vires to the constitution and thus unconstitutional. The Delhi High Court on 26 July, 2024 dismissed the PIL and observed that the notification does not infringe upon the Constitution or show any disrespect towards it. The Court also said that it would not be swayed by any sort of political rhetoric as phrases like “murder of democracy” and “mother of democracy” are frequently used by politicians. The court also indicated that these terms do not influence their decision in this case.
On the same day in one more significant development that can have a telling effect in this whole debate, Deepak Prakash, a BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha raised the issue of the Shah Commission, which was set up in 1977 to go into the excesses of Emergency, conducted 100 sittings and evaluated 48,000 documents. When the Indira Gandhi led government came again in 1980, the report submitted by the Justice Shah Commission was destroyed. As per Prakash, ‘one copy of the Shah Commission report is available in the National Library of Australia. This report will reveal the real facts of the Emergency’. He demanded that the Shah Commission report should be made public.
The Rajya Sabha Chairman, Jagdeep Dhankhar thereby asked the government to explore the possibility of placing an authentic copy of the Shah Commission report on Emergency excesses on the table of the House, as it had investigated the “darkest period of democracy”. During the Zero Hour, Dhankhar asked the government to take note of the issue raised by Deepak Prakash, regarding the matter relating to the Shah Commission report. “The government must examine the possibility of having the authentic report (of Shah Commission) and place it on the table of the House for the benefit of the members and public at large,” he said.
This is surely a very serious turn to the developments in regard to the Save-Constitution debate, the floodgates of which were opened by the Congress itself only to gain votes in the general elections. In a sense, the whole propaganda and the fake narrative of the Congress in this regard seem to have boomeranged upon it. The opposition comprising a number of political parties in the Indi-alliance like Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPM and a few other groups won’t like to be on the side of the Congress on the issue of Emergency as they were also the worst victims of the Emergency period. It would be very difficult for them to support Congress on this issue ideologically and politically.
In case the government decides to table the Shah Commission report in the Rajya Sabha as per the directions of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Vice President of the country, it will surely create a big political upheaval and earthquake in the national political scenario. It is yet premature to speak about the consequences of the debate in the Lok Sabha and also in the State Assemblies in this regard keeping in view that 22 State Assemblies have majority of NDA/BJP in their Houses.
It also remains to be seen as to how the other political parties also react to the debate once the Report is tabled in the Parliament. The Modi government seems to have done, though belatedly, a good homework in this context. It is time to turn tables for which the groundwork has smartly been done. The slogan of save-constitution has seriously taken a new turn…….!
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