June 25, the day when the Emergency was imposed on the nation by the Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s regime in 1975, will now be observed every year as the ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ which loosely translates to ‘the day the Constitution was killed’. A gazette notification issued on July 12 by the Union Home Ministry noted 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”. The notification also said that ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ is to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that the day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency. “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,” the Home Minister said. Notably, it was on June 25, 1975, that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decimated democracy and imposed a national emergency. The imposition of the Emergency, lasting for nearly two years — from June 1975 to March 1977, saw a brutal crackdown on opposition leaders and the freedom of the press.
In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections this year, the opposition parties claimed that Prime Minister Modi’s poll cry of “Abki baar, 400 paar” was aimed to change the Constitution and put an end to reservations. The opposition, which had come together under the INDIA umbrella, seized on the opportunity. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and others also began carrying a copy of the Constitution and stated repeatedly that the INDIA alliance was fighting to protect the Constitution. The issue did, however, work to the INDIA alliance’s favour in several states and played a role in limiting the BJP to 240 Lok Sabha seats and the NDA to 293. Post elections, several BJP leaders admitted to the harm that this narrative did to the saffron party’s electoral prospects.
The latest move by the Modi government for observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ is being seen as a counter to the opposition’s narrative that the BJP was subverting the Constitution. The government has been stepping up its attack against the Congress by repeatedly raking up the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, in response to the Opposition using the Constitution to target the Modi-led government. The showdown over the Constitution continued after elections as on the first day of the first session of 18th Lok Sabha, INDIA bloc MPs marched to the House together. Holding copies of the Constitution in their hands, they raised slogans such as “Save Constitution”. Who killed or saved the Constitution has become a political issue now.
