Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the '50 years of Emergency' program on Tuesday. During this, he said, I was 11 years old when the Emergency was imposed. The effect of the Emergency was less in Gujarat, because the Janata government was formed there. But later that government fell. He said, I come from a small village. 184 people from my village itself went to jail. I will not forget that day and those scenes till my death.

Shah said, going to jail only for the idea of ​​being free, cannot even be imagined. We cannot even imagine how ruthless that morning must have been for the people of India. The Union Home Minister said, it is difficult to define Emergency in one sentence. I have found a meaning of it. Emergency is a conspiracy to convert the multiparty democracy of a democratic country into dictatorship.

'No one can tolerate dictatorship in the country'

He said, this battle was won because no one can tolerate dictatorship in this country. India is the mother of democracy. At that time, nobody liked the emergency, except the dictators and that small narrow group who benefited. They had the illusion that nobody could challenge them, but when the first Lok Sabha elections were held after the emergency, for the first time after independence, a non-Congress government was formed and Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister.

'Security of power was the real reason, not national security'

Shah said, at 8 am, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced on All India Radio that the President has imposed emergency. Was the approval of the Parliament taken? Was a cabinet meeting called? Was the opposition taken into confidence? Those who talk about democracy today, I want to tell them that they are associated with the party that ended democracy. The reason given was national security, but the real reason was security of power. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, but she did not have the right to vote in the Parliament. She had no rights as a Prime Minister. She abandoned the bounds of morality and decided to continue as Prime Minister.

'Agenda not discussed with Babu Jagjivan Ram and Swarn Singh'

The Union Home Minister said, a series of events shook the democratically elected government. There was no national threat. We had just won the war with Bangladesh. There was no internal or external threat. The only threat to Indira Gandhi was of position... People had woken up and understood that the votes they cast on the basis of emotions are being misused. Realising this, Indira Gandhi imposed emergency. A cabinet meeting was called at 4 am. Later Babu Jagjivan Ram and Swarn Singh said that the agenda was not even discussed with them, they were only informed, the Home Secretary was called and orders were passed.

'There was happiness on the faces of thousands of people when Indira lost the election'

He said, I remember, we from our village were sitting in a truck and watching the results of the Lok Sabha elections in front of a newspaper building... When we came to know that Indira Gandhi had lost the election, it was around 3 or 4 o'clock in the night, we also came to know that Sanjay Gandhi had also lost the election, then the happiness on the faces of thousands of people, I can never forget.