The Narendra Modi Government on Friday decided, through a Gazette notification, to observe June 25 — the day the Emergency was declared in 1975 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — as “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas” to commemorate the “massive contributions” of those who endured the inhuman pains of that period.

Announcing this, Home Minister Amit Shah said the observance of “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas” will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of the democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing “dictatorial forces” like the Congress from “repeating those horrors”.

The gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry notes that Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, following which there was “gross abuse of power by the Government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will serve as a reminder of what happened when the Constitution was trampled over. “It is also a day to pay homage to each and every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history,” said Modi.

The people of India have abiding faith in the Constitution and the power of its resilient democracy, it said. “Therefore, Government of India declares June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power, in future,” said the notification.

Shah said on June 25, 1975, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in a “brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of India’s democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation”. Lakhs of people were thrown behind the bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced, he said.

“The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.’ This day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency,” he said in a social media post.