Emergency was meant to save Indira: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday that the plan to impose the Emergency on the country was hatched six months in advance, and the measure was meant to “save” the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“Emergency constituted an attack on all platforms of democracy. First, on Indians because thousands of people were put behind bars. Secondly, the freedom of the press, and thirdly, the dignity of Parliament.”

Mr. Prasad also spoke about the way the judiciary was handled then. “...while all the High Courts had acquitted themselves well during that period when the rights of citizens were being abrogated, the Supreme Court, with the exception of Justice H.R. Khanna, had let us down.”