Union Minister Kishan Reddy attended a ‘Mock Parliament session’ at KMIT to mark 50 years since the Congress Emergency, organized by the BJP Mahila Morcha in the state.
He emphasized the importance of youth and women getting into politics. Reddy mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for clean politics, noting Modi’s call for 100,000 young people to join the political arena.
Reddy encouraged the participants of the session to aim for roles in Parliament. He praised the Indian Constitution as exemplary, contrasting it with countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, where ignoring constitutional principles led to crises. He highlighted that during Indira Gandhi’s rule in 1975, the Constitution was bypassed, civil rights were curtailed, and press freedom was stifled with the imposition of Emergency without cabinet discussion. Many, including Jayaprakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Lal Krishna Advani, were detained overnight.
Reddy discussed the Navnirman Samiti movement in Gujarat and Bihar against corruption and unemployment under Gandhi’s rule, which saw student-led protests and police action. He recounted how Raj Narayan challenged Gandhi’s election win, accusing her of voter fraud, leading her to delay elections under a new ordinance.
The Emergency extended elections by a year. Activists and politicians in Hyderabad faced arrests under the MISA Act for opposing the Emergency. After its end in 1977, many detainees were released, and the Janata Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, rose to defend democracy. They defeated Gandhi’s ministers in what Reddy described as a people’s silent revolution.
