Bengaluru: 44 years ago, India suffered one of its most tragic moments when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency. Such was the disaster it created that the even fundamental rights were suspended.

The Karnataka state unit of the BJP organised an event to protest the imposition and remind the people of those dark days.

Taking a jibe at the Congress for having imposed Emergency, Yeddyurappa said, “The Congress keeps harping about Constitution and things like intolerance. But it is the same Congress which brazenly snatched not just the freedom of people, but also that of the Press.”

He also recalled how the daily Indian Express displayed blank editorials in protest of the imposition.

During the entire period of the imposition, as many as 1,60,000 people were arrested. Out of these, 90% were RSS workers. The state BJP president also remarked that the agony these people went through is inexpressible, simply because, while the periods of a convicted criminal are defined, those of such workers, who were put in jail, with no probe or investigation, had to endure a sort of uncertainty.

Yeddyurappa further added, “It was a great fight for freedom with no expectation. Their sacrifice is supremely important.”

This dark episode in Indian history also gave another luminary to the country in the form of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Yeddyurappa stated.

Sreenath Sheshadri, a BJP spokesperson added, “When the Janata Sangh came to power in 1977, it had as many as 90 MPs. If Atal Bihari Vajpayee had insisted, he could have easily become the PM. But he did not. He let Morarji Desai become the PM.”