Congress has not changed since Emergency: Narendra Modi

Constitution, country will not be safe under Congress, the Prime Minister says.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses BJP workers on the 43rd anniversary of Emergency, in Mumbai on June 26, 2018.

Launching a scathing attack against the Congress’s Gandhi family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that seeking to bring an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India by the ‘family’ to pressurise the judiciary showed that the party’s mindset from the days of the Emergency had not changed.

Addressing BJP workers at an event here to mark 43 years since the imposition of Emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Mr. Modi said, “The Congress’s mentality during Emergency is the same as the one that was visible while bringing the impeachment [motion].”

Institutions under threat

Seeking to deflate the Opposition’s charge that his government was imposing an “undeclared Emergency,” Mr. Modi said, “Isn’t their [the Congress’s] approach towards institutions a reflection of the psyche of Emergency? Can the country’s democracy and Constitution remain safe under their watch,” he asked.

“When a notice was served on the ‘family,’ such was the arrogance, such was the ego, that even the Chief Justice of India was not spared. There was an impeachment motion against him in Parliament,” he said, referring to the Congress’s effort to bring an impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra.

“The sin of devaluing the judiciary was done by those who were enjoying power on behalf of one family,” Mr Modi said.

(With PTI inputs)