Defiant still

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Emergency as an act of trampling upon democracy and the “the darkest period in India’s history when the country was turned into a jail”. Over one lakh patriotic, democracy-loving citizens were imprisoned, the bureaucracy and the judiciary were enslaved and people were deprived of their right to live. The media was muzzled.

Yet, the Congress has never apologised. In 2004, Ms Sonia Gandhi, in an interview, admitted that the Emergency was a mistake. But there was no unqualified apology forthcoming from her. On the contrary, Congress spokesmen like Manish Tewari and Anand Sharma have openly and shamelessly justified the Emergency.